My late husband, a third generation Marine, died in Tehran protecting a US Intelligence asset. He was not a loser. That person calls himself a "Christian" and those who follow him call themselves "Christians." They are not following Christ's leadership. John did.
While there is lots to criticize about American education, namely the over emphasis on sports, as a long time educator I observed that you have to have the cooperation of the student in some way. I had a government class with no college prep types and because most of them wanted to graduate, they did the work as best they could. Sadly, a lot of them were apathetic about politics and voting. In the few years I taught government, I had one student fail twice and part of that was because he had no encouragement from home. When I first started in the middle 70s, students could make more working in the woods than we did. That did not last and they became more interested in graduating. I have known many teachers who have made a difference for their students. Now with all the chaos created by the pandemic and the wing nuts who want to decide what books kids can read and what can be taught, it has become even a more difficult job.
I like your comment about the wingnuts and the crippling of education: banning books and sanitizing history. As a matter of fact, history should be a little more unsanitized in regards to the westward expansion and some of the wars.
It is amazing to me that what people believe about American history. For me it is always an ongoing process to learn more and it is often not pretty at all. When I was growing up, all of this was under the table, so to speak. NBC news had segment tonight on some students at high schools in north Texas and how upset they are with the removal of hundreds of books and the the refusal to address certain subject matter. The students are organized and they are all very articulate. They actually gave me some hope since they didn't accept it sitting down. My husband has interesting ancestry in terms of the movement west. Some of his ancestors were white people coming in wagon trains and viewing Native Americans as something in the way. He also has Lakota ancestry which puts an entirely different spin on the idea of bringing European values and "civilization" to the West. As I view the current situation, what we have is destruction in a relatively short time.
There are some very good opinion pieces in the NYT about why X is so popular. Both articles relate to emotion rather than cognitive. I ran out of the ability to gift.Paul Krugman & Jamelle Bouie. At the end of Mr Bouie's article , it references another article about why X lies
Technically he is an American citizen: his grandfather was born in Germany, so he is a third generation American. However, his behaviour shows that he is culturally some small step up from mafia, doesn't know the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule, so you're right imho, that he is not a Christian.
I was thinking that an Amercian citizen commiting treason against the institution he ws elected to serve, is not a true American, but just a traitor. Technically, you are right, he is a third generation immigrant. Yes, I must be more careful about the leaps I make. Thanks!
THATS ! A Fat AMEN ! " DESCERNMENT DAY !" ( The JUDGMENT ) Is NOT, Going to Bode Well. Even I, AM Supposed to Pray, for him, SOMEHOW ! ( LORD/GOD !, have Mercy ! )
Just have to name a 10 Commandment if you want a quote. Here's a good one for him." I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes when I lay my vengeance on them." Ezekial
EZEKIAL , Was Telling IT !, How it Is ! GOD !, Help MANKIND ! To Realize, God Does LOVE!, BUT GOD, is ALSO a JUST GOD ! There will be No 'FILTH !, in HEAVEN ! Read : John 14, Verse 6
Grandfather was a draft dodger. Left Germany just before WWI and wanted to return right after. Germans refused him readmittance. He's stuck in America. and gets into shady real estate deals some of which include brothels. So you see some of trump's behavior was inherited.
ABSOLUTLY, a PLASTIC CHRISTIAN ! ( Remember the ' Two CORINTHIANS Story ! ? ) Our VETERANS ..= SUCKERS , and LOSERS ??!! he NEEDS , as Much Prayer, as The PHAROH ! ( BUT !, That, Didn't Help him !!!, he Got WASHED AWAY ! ) MERCY !!
Death star is not a patriot, a Christian, a decent person. Rather he is a festering cancer on the body politic and a true loser as evidenced by his many failed businesses. He represents all that is bad in humankind.
I never understood the appeal. All he has to do is open his mouth and he reveals his fetid ignorance. That is why I must assume that he is merely a tool, but a tool gone wild with his own imagined "power".
Having known ignorant people who seem to like to remain that way, I can understand his appeal. I had an ex-classmate tell me that she wouldn't want to be well educated like me. I wanted to tell her that I wouldn't want to be a Christian like her, but I refrained. People often fear the educated and their reaction is to sneer and be rude. And follow someone who sticks it to libs and other assorted "dangerous' people. It's loving the class clown.
Ok, but WHY would any sane person want to follow the class clown? A string - a very long, loud, string - of fools: is that what America has devolved to?
You are on the mark. I really was thinking of so many of our Repug elected leaders. But, of course, they were hustling for their suppers just like MSM.
K Barnes, he Definitly, is a 'tool' , of lucifer ! MANKIND, is Now going to Witness, The " TIP !, of the ICEBURG ! " ( Reference, back, to the TITANIC !! ) Murdock, Couldn't AVOID IT !
Of course trumpers are screaming that Biden (even though he played sports) got deferred 5 x like trump. The major difference here is that Biden has respect for our soldiers. He would never support someone like Eddie Gallagher.
Thank you Sabrina, for your sacrifice, and for John's courage and Honor. Our country runs on the blood of heroes--something the so-called "Christians" will never grasp, because they don’t understand the sacrifice of the One they claim to believe in....
So sorry for your loss. Thank you and John for your sacrifices. It is so appreciated.
My uncle was a Marine in the Pacific theater of WWII. He was killed in battle in March 1945, just a few months before the war ended. I did not know him. Every Memorial Day, my family has always made a point to remember and to honor all of our brave fighting men and women, especially those who have passed on.
I watched the ceremony for General Milley’s retirement and changing of the guard it’s entirety. You can find it on The White House.gov. It was a simple, beautiful event that underscored the extreme sacrifices our service people and their families make in defense of our nation . It also underscored the mutual respect President Biden and General Milley have for one another. I’m glad I watched it. Such a welcome contrast to TFG.
Thank you, Susan. I've been on a little bit of a holiday and missed that. I have tremendous respect for General Milley, and want to watch the ceremony to honor him and all the other military members who lived up to their commitment to the Constitution and simple honor.
Many of us can add quite a few names to your Memorial Day roster Ally. In addition to those painful absolute losses like Sky's. It's enough for me to think you'll be playing for every one of those fathers and sons and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and mothers who went to work at places like Curtis Wright in Paterson, including my mom when my dad was slogging around on Okinawa... Thank you for your tributes to all who made sacrifices for our Democracy.
My father was there too. Earned a bronze star. He was devastated by the news of his beloved older brother’s death. He was haunted by the feeling that if one of them had to die, it should have been him, not his brother.
No support groups. PTSD had not been “discovered”.
War is terrible.
If we do not do everything we can to help Ukraine, our soldiers will soon be fighting yet another war.
My father was also in WWII and served on a destroyer tender. I’m convinced that he had PTSD afterwards but as mentioned there was no help for that problem at the time. Both my parents made sacrifices. My father was gone for long periods at sea and my mother would travel by train around the country trying to meet him the next time his ship came into port. My father was a Republican; my mother a Democrat. But I’m sure both of them would be very concerned today about threats to our democracy.
My Dad was a bomber pilot who flew over Europe. I know you are a bit removed being so high in the air, but 50% of the pilots didn't return. That fact had to be in the back of your mind. He came back to base one time. Evidently they thought he had been shot down, and his things had been removed from his locker. Flew in Korea also. Always had a Moscow Mule in his hand every night-his way of coping I guess.
And my dad would come home from work and drink beer. Self medicating.
He lied about his age to join the Marines in 1942 before he was even out of high school. To be so young and go through 3 years of fighting. I can not even fathom it. Came home to a hero’s welcome. GI bill made him the first in his family to graduate college. Got married. Got a job. Raised a family. Paid his taxes. But the terrors were there. Beer kept them at bay I guess. No support groups. No one to talk to about it. Soldier on.
Sabrina, your husband is an American Hero, a true Patriot, a man of Honor, and respect. I, for one, respect all soldiers, regardless of their military service they serve, they serve to protect all of us, and I deeply thank each and every one of them.
I’m truly sorry he was taken from you, but you have him with you every moment of every day. He remains in your heart, your thoughts, and your prayers, each day. Thank you so very much for sharing this story with us!
Sabina Your late husband was a hero serving his country. Bone Spur Donald is the ultimate loser for how he has denigrated our America as an antiChrist.
Keith, the killer is that they let him do it!! He got away with all those horrible disgusting comments to war heroes and POW's and Gold Star Families, troops everywhere...the slurs and attacks and lies and sleights of hand, the complete inability to grasp the meaning of honor. Then, there was all that strange and outrageous talk about, and noodling with, Putin, the "strong man", Kim Jong Un's "love letters" and the monumental foreign policy clumsiness and gaffs and, yet, the party marched right on behind him playing Yankee Doodle Dandy as if it really didn't matter at all. And MSM kept reporting ridiculous poles about Biden's advancing age acting as if it was impolite to actually report that the "Word Salad Generator-in-Chief" kept smearing poop wherever he went and could not hold up his own end of a third grader conversation. I hope I live long enough to see this disabled humanoid AND his handlers win exactly what they all deserve. Excuse my rant....widow of a Purple Heart veteran who, with consummate dignity, paid for his Purple Heart, all the remaining days of his life. Even so, this man remained forever grateful for his gift of life, however challenging, respectfully remembering the guys who never made it back, at all, from DakTo. I've just recently begun to read his mud stained letters, tucked away for decades, reporting on grunt life in the monsoon swamped, leech infested, sniper ridden jungles. At the very same time, "Bone Spurs" was desperately trying impress "model" types in NYC discos, trying to boost his fragile self esteem, while paling around with NYC sleaze, such as Roy Cohn, reportedly imagining himself as belonging to some kind of a mobster class. Yankee Doodle Dandy Republicans. They will never EVER hold water in my eyes again! IMHO, the whole lot of them deserve the strictest enforcement of "aiding and abetting the enemy". Believe me, I am trying very hard not to post this......
K Barnes !!, It Is Called RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION !! Our Loving GOD ! , Does UNDERSTAND ! HE Does, also SPEAK, About " VENGANCE !, is MINE ! " Thus Sayeth, the LORD ! LORD ! Call in !, Your Children ! WAYWARD MANKIND !, Will NOT, WITHSTAND ! YOUR WRATH !!
“Greater love has no one, than that of laying down one’s life for another”. I’m so very sorry for your loss, but so very grateful for your husband’s service-and yours. Peace be yours. 🙏💙🙏💙🙏
Absolutely obscene how tfg characterized members of the armed services. The depth of his disrespect offends us beyond words. I am so sorry your husband's memory, as well as all those who made the ultimate sacrifice, were so callously dismissed. Know that there are thousands behind the scenes working to get the vote out to see that this heartless monster does not get a second term.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. Such a stark contrast to what is being revealed about TFG. I am so sorry for your loss and pray you are surrounded by support and comfort.
What I truly do no understand is how these attitudes of TFG's are ok with his followers. According to one study, less than 50% of MAGA supporters have incomes over $50k. A Brookings report indicates that over 60 percent of 2016 enlistments came from neighborhoods with a median household income between $38,345 and $80,912. So a fair number of MAGA's must have relatives in the military. How are they OK with his contempt for their own relatives?
Yes, but why?? TFG tapped into something stronger than even blue collar patriotism and love of "out troops." We need to learn what it is (fear? hatred? discouragement?) and find a way to reach at least some of his people. Maybe the young?
Chaplain Terry ! TFG Has A REPROBATE heart ! FEAR, HATRED, and DICOURAGMENT, Are The ABSOLUTE Driving Forces, For him , and his ilk ! At This POINT, ONLY JESUS, and HIS HOLY GHOST !, CAN Pull ALL !, out of The ONCOMMING FIRE ! BLESSINGS!
"Jesus and his Holy Ghost" or by whatever other names one calls the "divine" or "Non-physical" as manifested in so many good hearted ordinary people. We just need to wake up more of us!
Chaplain Terry ! ....... WAKE UP !!, is Where, ' The RUBBER !, Meets, THE ROAD !!' SO MUCH !, in AGREEANCE ! TIME !,,, is getting REAL SHORT ! JESUS, Did SAY MY ReTURN, will be, like, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,, A THEIF ! ,,, ,,,, iin THE NIGHT ! . ( IS , " The GUARDSMAN !, .... ... ... ON, HIS POST ??!! ) BLESSINGS !!
No, we can’t. We must keep pressure up. We saw at the mid-terms what happens when we slack up. We ended up with this mess in the House of Representatives we now have. A “cluster-fu*k!”
This just in from a friend, but it is proof positive that those closest to Trump admit that he is a misfit and unfit to be POTUS.
Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
Jake Tapper, Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent
Mon, October 2, 2023, 2:58 PM PDT·7 min read
John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN.
Kelly set the record straight with on-the-record confirmation of a number of damning stories about statements Trump made behind closed doors attacking US service members and veterans, listing a number of objectionable comments Kelly witnessed Trump make firsthand.
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”
In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Those details also include Trump’s inability to understand why the American public respects former prisoners of war and those shot down in combat. Then-candidate Trump of course said in front of a crowd in 2015 that former Vietnam POW Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, was “not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” But behind closed doors, sources told Goldberg, this lack of understanding went on to cause Trump to repeatedly call McCain a “loser” and to refer to former President George H. W. Bush, who was also shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II, as a “loser.”
CNN reached out to the Trump campaign Monday afternoon, telling officials there that a former administration official had confirmed, on the record, a number of details about the 2020 Atlantic story, without naming Kelly, and seeking comment. The Trump campaign responded by insulting the character and credibility of retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, who had nothing to do with this story.
The Atlantic article also described Trump’s 2018 visit to France for the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, where, according to several senior staff members, Trump said he did not want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” During that same trip to France, the article reported, Trump said the 1,800 US Marines killed in the Belleau Wood were “suckers” for getting killed.
And Kelly’s statement adds context to a story in the book “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” by Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, in which Trump, after a separate trip to France in 2017, tells Kelly he wants no wounded veterans in a military parade he’s trying to have planned in his honor. Inspired by the Bastille Day parade, except for the section of the parade featuring wounded French veterans in wheelchairs, Trump tells Kelly, “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade.”
“Those are the heroes,” Kelly said. “In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are – and they are buried over in Arlington.”
“I don’t want them,” Trump said. “It doesn’t look good for me.”
The story squares with another recent story from Goldberg in The Atlantic, a profile of retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in which Trump does not react well to seeing severely wounded Army Captain Luis Avila singing “God Bless America” at a welcome event for the new chairman. “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”
Kelly’s statement also refers to a remark Trump made in response to that same article, which describes Milley, in the closing days of the Trump presidency in 2020, receiving intelligence that the Chinese military feared Trump was about to order a military strike on it. Milley, in a call authorized by Trump administration officials, reassured his Chinese counterparts that such a strike was not going to happen.
That call was first reported in 2021 in the book “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, but Trump said this past week on his social media site that the call was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.”
Asked for reaction to the suggestion that he deserves execution, Milley told Norah O’Donnell of “60 Minutes” that he wouldn’t “comment directly on those, those things. But I can tell you that this military, this soldier, me, will never turn our back on that Constitution.”
Kelly’s statement to CNN comes days after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson sat down with CNN in an interview promoting her new book, “Enough,” and warned the public that “Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
“Enough,” interestingly, contains a scene in which Hutchinson and then-White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin push back against Goldberg’s 2020 story. Griffin issued a statement to The Atlantic after that story posted denying the report.
Reached for comment over the weekend, Griffin said, “Despite publicly praising the military and claiming to be the most pro-military president, there’s a demonstrable record of Trump bashing the most decorated service members in our country, from Gen. Mattis to Kelly to Milley, to criticizing the wounded or deceased like John McCain. Donald Trump will fundamentally never understand service the way those who have actually served in uniform will, and it’s one of the countless reasons he’s unfit to be commander in chief.”
No other presidential candidate in history has had so many detractors from his inner circle. His former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN in November 2022, “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, told CBS in June that “he is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. … He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this.”
Richard- thanks for amassing this material. It is an outrage that Trump's shocking behavior continues to go unpunished and that he views Americans who put others ahead of themselves as losers. When are the public, the courts, going to hold him accountable? How can he make threats against judges and other officers of the court and not be charged with contempt of court? He is the ultimate challenge to the resilience of American institutions. It's almost 2024 and the jury is still out on who will prevail.
True, but this issue has been on the burner for a long, long time - racism. What binds the Evangelicals to Trump is their racism. Christs' teachings (Matthew 25: 34-46) mean nothing. Google "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" These people are manipulated by the oligarchs. Several books address this, including Thomas Frank;s "What's the Matter with Kansas," and HCR's just published, "Democracy Awakening." We're in the battle of our lives right now against the most serious threat to our democracy, and it is coming from Americans.
Isabel Wilkrson, in her book "Caste" lays out the continuing racist caste system in the US as a direct cause of Trump's unlikely success in 2016 and since. The oligarchs supply the money, but caste-conscious racism - the antithesis of "All Men are created equal" - supplies much of the motivation.
I am not familiar with Wilkerson's book. I'd be interested to see how she treats the issue of implicit bias. I just checked her out. Impressive resume. I'll get caste. I grew up in abject poverty in Jim Crow Texas in the '40's and '50's, a white male. My mom, a New Yorker, was telling me as I was going to school barefoot because my only pair of shoes was in the repair shop that I could be anything that I wanted to be, that it was up to me. I took that as fact generally but when I was 20 years old I encountered two phenomena. I was at the Army Language School learning Chinese when I saw a Black soldier and a white soldier sharing the same dorm room. I reacted to it, but I immediately realized that my reaction would be what I came to learn was implicit bias. I also realized that my mom was only correct in a certain respect: I might be able to be what I wanted but it was because I was white and male. I have fought for equal rights for all ever since, putting my wife through medical school in the 1970's when 10% of her Stanford Med School was female. It is now 50%.
We are, perhaps, at the most dangerous point in our nation's history, even more dangerous than the Civil War because the threat is no longer confined to geographical boundaries. It's like a cancer that has metastasized throughout the body.
No need to stoop to his level. Being an adult is recognition of true maturity and will win in the end. Voters will be the judge and jury. God knows how tired we are of all this drama in elections in our beautiful country.
But, how to explain 70 million Republican MAGA members still supporting a low life, a completely worthless human like Donald Trump? My belief is that white Protestant supremacy is more important to them than the democratic process: one person, one vote, majority rule. I dare say that among those racists there are some who unknowingly have some "Black blood."
Kelly did make some efforts to rein Trump in, and quit/got fired for his efforts. Barr rode the crazy train much further before he bailed, and if Trump had prevailed, I am not sure that Barr would have left at all. They both state, as personal revelations, what most people have seen in Trump from the beginning. Hutchinson’s excuse, that she was very very young, and as blinded by power as those old men were blinded by her youth and beauty, but managed to hang on to some inner moral compass, is slightly more believable, but I have quit jobs when I was told to falsify data, or told to tolerate sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace. The fact that 2 of them stuck around throughout the whole process of Trump setting up the treasonous plan to bring down the government does not speak well of their judgement or their character, does it?
While I am grateful to those former staffers speaking up and out, I can’t imagine this was new news to any of them. This has always been who and what Trump is. Always.
Yes these reports have been floating around for years....like gnats on a summer evening. Annoying but basically ignored. Why, how, did MSM treat these glimpses into the soul of a president, or lack thereof, as mere blips on a screen? Mere profit motive?
Agreed that he planted the anti-democracy seed, but since he is incapable of doing anything “lovingly,” I would substitute the word “hatefully.” Every utterance, every step he takes is drenched in mendacity, deceit, and projection.
Thank you Maureen: ‘mendacity’. A perfect description of the shrinking t-balloon. Also ‘drenched in ...deceit and projection’. As he deflates 🙏 my hopes rise.
(I remain vigilant & concerned about his cadre of fervent too often violent followers everywhere)
Oh yes. I’m wondering if those ‘vile dictators’ serve as a person’s dark side? That way each one of these unconscious individuals doesn’t need to own their individual shadow side.
I learned that word when I was a senior in high school in civics class, used by Mr. Victor Wattner, of Van Zandt County, Texas. I don't see "facetious" used too often but love it when I do see it. He was a good teacher.
The 'bad seeds' have always existed among us. Trump was the extremely effective grower who tended his garden of criminality just affectively enough to harvest enough voters to give him free pass to the presidency of our great nation. It's up to us to remember the lesson learned here, and to pass it on to further generations. Strengthening our public education system is key. With more than 30 years in service there, I know first hand. Teach them to know and demand better, or get this again, and far worse the next time.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Every one of us should read the book about the “dug out” schools in the Midwest in the 19th century. Half underground in winter (doing crops during growing season)!students and teachers learned history, Latin, and math, the bases of a liberal education. It wasn’t “job training” as our corporate “sponsors” would have US learn now so we can be serfs and back half underground spiritually if not literally. Never forget Monty Python: “If you don’t know the Latin, ya gotta do the hackin’ and the hewin’.”
Having had a year of the Latin and one of the Greek, plus a semester of Comp lit to read Aristophanes (still hilarious after a few thousand years), during these difficult years since 2016, it’s been “and the gods laughed” almost every day. Then TODAY, a book entitled, “How to Be Abe Lincoln in Seven Steps.” The first step: Laugh. Remembered vaguely that Abe was a jokester, but that people came to the White House for his jokes is not what you get in history class. But it’s closer to home for US than Aristophanes. Now if we can just get funding for Ukraine....Everyone can watch “Servant of the People” and laugh together.
And, teach them how to think critically: This website https://thinkingispower.com/ is run by Melanie Trecek-King, an associate professor of biology at Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts. Brilliant.
Yes! But gerrymandering has reduced the results of democratic and Black voters. We must stop the redistricting of the vote to unfairly influence elections.
Will he accept he's a loser? I think he is unable. I hope his cult may be able to if we use our voices in addition to our votes. He is a liar, a thief and a dictator wannabe. And the republican party has been complicit, up until an hour before closing last week.
Cults do not listen to voices from outside. They did not in Waco, nor among Jim Jones' followers. And neither will Gaetz, Greene, and the rest of that crew. Voting them out is the only answer.
Lynn, As in the NY City trial currently running, I fear that his definition of "rigged" is "following the rules" or "Expecting someone to present the truth" in a financial statement. Similarly his definition of "the deep state" is bureaucrats, judges and lawyers actually adhering to the rule of law and precedent. I'll take that kind of "rigging" by "the deep state" any day. I choose to be "awake" to facts!
I think it is clear that a great many things point to a weakening of the "GOP's" hold on the narrative, which is not to say they are no longer a serious threat.
Continuing serious threat, the cult nuts even have Chump, Jr. In line for the presidency, so I have heard. Even a heart attack will not end the insanity.
When chump was running in 2020, I saw a tee with chump til 2028, Don Jr 2028 til 2036, Ivanka 2036 til 2044. Forgot about Baron, guess he could take over after Ivanka. Apparently, Eric was not a favorite. Crazy is devoted. So glad Biden interrupted that nightmare.
I feel so bad for kids whose parents hang their emotional hangups around their necks.
Wow, a whole letter full of good news!! Thank you!
All of these condemnations by top Rs and military leaders need to go out in video ads. Not that I believe the hard core are capable of listening but they are powerful indictments to put before so-called independents. Great quotes for us to spread on social media, too (below).
And Thomas recusing himself - that's huge.
General John Kelly: “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason—in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law…. There is nothing more that can be said,” he added. “God help us.”
Army Major General Paul Eaton: “Who could vote for this traitor Trump?”“Vote Democratic...our country’s honor depends on it.”
General Mark Milley: We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual.
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.…"
Alexandra, I took an Oath in 1970 to protect and defend our Constitution. I did this as a law enforcement officer in South Carolina, and again as a firefighter. I worked in those careers for over 26 years until I was forced to give them up due to injuries sustained.
Now, today, I continue to honor this same Oath to defend our Constitution against these attacks by the former President, the white supremacy groups he’s supporting, mobilizing, encouraging, to commit acts of violence against our Constitution, our Democracy, our legal system and its excellent workers.
Now, instead of weapons that fire projectiles, I use my keypad and fingers. It’s all I have, with my mind, to keep telling people that we must get to the polls. We can not allow this gerrymandering, and these laws that the Republicans are cranking down our throats to try to gain, and stay in, power keep us drum voicing our opinions or voting to have our selected candidates serve our will.
I firmly believe that the only way we, the people, are going to defeat this facist republican coup group is to completely destroy the Republican Party. We must vote every single one of them out of office. Not only at the federal level, but at all levels. Local, county, state, and federal. All Republicans must go. They must see that we will not stand for this type of nonsense, ever!
Thank you for this comment. I am 77 years old and frustrated that I cannot do more. I give what I can (which isn't much) to the DNC and to candidates in battleground states (like Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio), but other than that -"I use my keypad and fingers. It’s all I have, with my mind, to keep telling people that we must get to the polls." Thank you so much for those words! Me too!
I too, am 71, Barbara. Homebound, disabled, and send my day hooked up to machines to breathe. I no longer have control of any money, but I have no money anyway, left. But, I have my mind, my fingers, and this keypad. As long as I have those three things, and Substack family, I’ll going to keep on yelling, preaching, telling people, that we must vote. No matter what. We gave to get to the polls and vote. We cannot allow these Republicans to take control.
KEEP PREACING ! , Daniel !, IM 75, BUT !,, That is NOT ! Gonna' SLOW Us, 'DOOMERS' !, DOWN !! Fom a VET, to a plastic president/Heel Spurs/ MOTORMOUTH LIAR.....KNUCKLE SANDWICH !! Coming UP !! ( WOT A MANGOWANKER !! )
Bless you, Daniel! At 89, I am fighting to continue walking without a walker, marching days over, but can still do GOTV postcards and join the rest of us to boost courage in the face of the plagues that have befallen US and the world.
WOW! 89 and walking withoiut a walker. Bless you, Virginia. Fantastic! Hell, I had to fight 23 years ago to get out of the hospital bed after almost 2 1/2 years and just to walk with a walker. I went from hospital bed, to wheelchair, now on a walker.
Good for you! The patience it takes to keep a body going from the time we try to walk until the time we give up on the effort, for whatever reason. Keep up the good work!
I couldn't agree with you more. I lived in Ohio for a year and wish Sherrod Brown had the name recognition that would make him a candidate for president. His Midwest values and wise decisions, coupled with the "look" of a president (tall, graying, with gravitas!). I like the guy. My husband and I talk about the fact that we really value what President Biden is doing, but the polls are still scary. And Kamala Harris doesn't have the polling power to help him. If he had a different VP candidate (maybe Gavin Newsom?), it might help to offset the fears that his health could fail. I love Pete B., but I can't imagine a married gay man with two adorable children surviving a national election. Some of the people in this country are still stuck decades if not hundreds of years behind the overall "sense" of the country. Sorry. I'm babbling.
Not babbling, just sharing what's on your mind. That's what we do here - sparking conversations among people without being judged. I, too, have admired Sherrod Brown for years and was disappointed that Biden didn't select him for VP.
I wasn’t a Kamala “fan” and I’m still not. But I’m certainly not a foe. She is a very intelligent gutsy woman who would be fine as POTUS because she’s smart, would put and listen to good people around her and is there FOR OUR COUNTRY. And she has an excellent track record as an AG and U.S. Senator. I wasn’t a fan of Biden either till he got there and has accomplished so much. Please don’t denigrate the thought of Kamala as VP - it feeds the Joe Biden naysayers. And if she were replaced by a white guy, Joe would lose the black vote, which he needs to win again.
You misunderstand me. I think Kamala is awesome. I read her book years ago and have told many people what she did to help California homeowners survive the 2008 mortgage debacle. She was the Attorney General of a State with a huge economy and had the clout to get someone like Jamie Dimon on the phone and tell him how it was going to be! I am concerned that she has not had the opportunity to strengthen her national name recognition and build confidence among voters that she could step in as POTUS and do a great job. I don't think people know her, but she needs opportunities to be out there this year. It would help offset the fears people have because of Biden's age. If they look at a vigorous, healthy, smart VP, they should be able to rest assured that the country would be in good hands if Joe's health failed. I don't think people know her well enough yet, and I'd like to see Joe Biden do everything he can to change that. It's in his best interest and in the best interest of the country.
Someone put a meme on Twitter (when it was Twitter) that said Trump was King Midas in reverse. Everything he touched turned to schitt. I think that came from Tony Soprano's visit to his therapist.
Thomas recused himself from this case because Eastman was his law clerk, and it’s a small sop to the critics. He has no loyalty to Eastman, and perhaps he was offended that such a meaningless dweeb invoked his name.
I don’t think he recused out of suddenly found rectitude.
Why did the US become so entangled with Donald J. Trump’s twisted personality? He is totally at war with his rivals and totally in the moment. He has a penchant for malice and lying. He is self-serving, aggressively cruel, while seeking outside gratification. Trump values power and money above all, and people not at all. Why did America allow itself to become his plaything?
HCR writes of examples that indicate the tide is turning. How stable is the country? How much can we
come together as Biden has steadfastly worked toward?
'There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American. That's our soul. That's who we truly are. And that's who must — we must always be.'
Rex, THAT is the issue. Led mainly by former Confederate States, generations of these clowns have done everything they could since 1866 to undermine this country over the issue of racism....errrr....oh yeah the proper 'dog whistle' is 'States Rights'!
100Panthers: "Led mainly by former Confederate States"
I would like to offer that Donald Trump, the most racist public figure of my lifetime, emanated from New York/New York city.
If you think there is not overt, beyond unbelievable racism in the north, then, you don't live there as a minority.
The North is WAY more segregated than the south. I grew up in the south and live in the north today. By 1966 my school was fully desegregated.
My kids went to school up here in the North in FULLY SEGREGATED PUBLIC SCHOOLS from 2005 to 2017. Not by my choice, but by the choice of the entire north American culture.
The city I live in is about as far north as you can get in America and it has THE most segregated public school system in America as reported by several magazines last year.
It is NOT the SOUTH that is the problem in America. It is AMERICANS that are the problem in America.
You are right Mike. I grew up in an affluent MA suburb. My folks moved there for the quality of the schools. They certainly couldn't afford to live there - but they pulled it off for us. However, there were no people of color in the entire town. None. I lived in a white bubble created by red lining and the bigotry that supported it.
I was recently reading about the bussing of kids from Dorchester to "Southie" - and the reverse. Interestingly, they were just shuffling kids from one under funded school system to another. The Black kids should have been bussed to Sudbury or Weston or Newton - towns with nice schools and big budgets.
We fail to address the elephants in the room. Generational, inherited and currently reinforced income and wealth inequality. Integration is what normal should be. But until we address the theft of wealth from the working poor and eliminate zip code school funding, the door to the trap people of color have been living in will remain closed.
Yes Bill, I think you've hit on a more powerful incentive for opening the dollar taps on which political activity seems totally reliant: wealth inequality. Hence we get these relentless requests, even demands, that we pay our money to buy, oops, to elect our preferred candidates! ...and who has the most money to give away to elect someone who will do the bidding of the wealthy?
You are 100% correct. I now live in one if those towns that has grown to affluence since I have been here, south of Boston. It is rotten how homogenized and conservative my former working man's community has become.
Private schools need to be abolished. If there were only public schools, ALL parents would be more invested in making sure the schools their children would attend would have the best of everything. Private schools reinforce privilege and insure class and race divisions.
And if we can't do that, then private schools must not allow tuition.
Mischele, I fear that eliminating private schools would only amplify the incentive to "redline" wealthy enclaves and school districts as has happened in so many northern cities and towns.
So true! We certainly have our share of racist knuckle draggers here in Oklahoma but I have seen worse in California, Minnesota and Massachusetts. Not to mention casual slurs against Okies. Too many people in this country seem to be a bunch of John Bolton types who enjoy kissing up and kicking down. Oh the humanity!
Mike, yeah racism is everywhere, but it is a matter of degree. Find me a Massachusetts Governor, Senator or Congressperson that rivals, or ever rivaled, the racist nut jobs consistently crawling out of the deep South.
Wow, Mike. You are letting the South off the hook for so much I don't even know where to start. And certainly don't have time to today. But I couldn't let your comment go without saying - there is racism everywhere in the US but you are for some reason choosing to ignore a whole history of INSTITUTIONAL, legal racism.
Rex, white nationalism/racism is a major contributor to Trump's support, but another large part of it is rage concerning the transfer of wealth, a hatred for the elites, which Trump cannily branded and fueled. In a blind rage, they support their enemies. The mistrust of government grows out of losing their sense of identity and community. They were betrayed in their minds by the Democratic Party, and they are not entirely wrong about that. This divide is a killer.
That is generous of you, Fern, but I think rage against the machine accounts for at most a tiny fraction of losses to their sense of identity. Factors other than racism are down there competing with random noise. Regarding their resentment of wealth, I think it accounts for an even tinier fraction. A significant percentage of these clowns (to put it mildly) favor low taxes on the wealthy because they sincerely believe they are going to win at Powerball sometime soon.
It is great to laugh with you, Rex, while respectfully in disagreement. Racism may be the towering fault, but classism is no small hill as you seem to rate it. Now, the two together!
Racism and poverty of the working poor are partners in crime. Poor whites have a lot to complain about. They are just blaming the wrong people. Whites and Blacks should stand together in rage against the oligarchs who shipped their jobs overseas and made obscene personal profits.
Companies should have a social contract with their workers. Workers should be sitting on the board of directors as stakeholders. Profit sharing with employees should be SOP.
Instead the oligarchs throw gasoline on the fires of racism and the truth about our history. They have effectively divided and conquered.
One of the great failures of the Democratic Party has been to allow this false narrative to continue. Folks like Bill Clinton unwittingly fed it. But now...we have a president who walks a union picket line in solidarity with workers! Good for Joe, but if more Democratic officials took a page from people like Sherrod Brown and our super smart president, we might not be in this ridiculous position.
Democrats gave away their strongest political tool - being the party of the worker. Let's resurrect that notion! Time for some Norma Rae!
Bill & Fern, BRAVO! I think you are both outlining the more serious underlying explanations for the democratic party's loss of appeal for poor white and the newly immigrated. And I am quite certain that taking implications for government and business from those European and Scandinavian countries which have repeatedly scored the highest in popular happiness and contentment by finding a way to harness capitalism by governments which demand a more even balance between corporate profits and employee working conditions, countries which provide a genuine safety net of income, healthcare and childcare.
'Folks like Bill Clinton UNWITTINGLY fed it'. My all caps on 'unwittingly' because I wouldn't excuse Clinton so readily. Bill's policies were sometimes right out in the open.
'Two high-ranking officials at the Department of Health and Human Services resigned yesterday in protest over President Clinton's decision to sign the welfare bill, an unusually public move that underscores the deep divisions within the administration over the legislation.'
'Peter Edelman, acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, and Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for children and families, submitted their letters of resignation yesterday, both citing the welfare measure as the reason.'
'The resignations were notable not only because they represented open discontent with a president among his own appointees but because of the relative prominence of the two officials involved. Edelman and his wife, Children's Defense Fund head Marian Wright Edelman, have had a close personal friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. And Bane has long been one of the country's leading academics on welfare issues, as the author of books and research that have influenced thinking and policymaking on the subject.'
'Both were part of a brain trust on welfare policy overseen by HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala, who was among several Clinton advisers said to have been protesting behind the scenes when the president was debating whether to sign the legislation last month.' (WAPO) Sorry that the link below is not gifted.
MLMinET, Rex and I were differing about the degree to which racism and class animosity were marshalled by Trump and comprise a major portion of his supporters. The Democratic Party seemed to abandon the working class, while making some effort to combat racism/segregation. That may have also intensified the racism. I think the loss in US manufacturing is part of what the working class holds against the Democrats. Many believed Democrats did not seek ways to provide the jobs and support necessary as we moved from the industrial age to the technological one. The strong impression was that the Democrats were not supportive enough of the unions as Reagan and the Republicans tore them apart. The tectonic shift of work created enormous challenges that we were not and, perhaps, could not be prepared for.
Rex, perfectly observed. Otherwise stated, if I win a billion dollars, paying 50% of it to taxes would horribly suck; how can I live comfortably on only 500 million? And what suck more is that my money would go to help people who didn’t earn it!!”
If you examine the data about who votes for Trump you’ll know that they’re not all disadvantaged including lawyers, congress people etc. Even the insurrection crowd included many people who are just fine when it comes to economics.
Comparatively White people have the lowest poverty rate. Those with the highest poverty rates are not the ones causing the divisions, storming the capital and supporting a wanna be dictator.
I understand why people want to ignore or deny racism. It’s a tough issue to deal with after more than 250 years of living this way. Racism is what defines and propels America.
Fern, among many of the poor, acceptance of “government handouts” has long been seen as shameful—a signal that you, as breadwinner, are incapable of taking care of your family. So children go hungry to prop up their parents’ ego :” We may be poor, but at least we’re not on the dole”.
Thanks, Red. There is merit to Brooks' piece. Generally, I find his work half baked, with little understanding for the working class and middle class America in the Midwest, and I could go on...
Brooks can be reasonable and charming. A really likable guy. He was at his best with Mark Shields.
But too often he struggles to make excuses for the party he really doesn't belong in. David needs to "come out". At a minimum, he should carve out a spot of complete independence from the conservatives who would likely send him to the camps - despite his relatively recent conversion to the New Testament.
I have written about that to him, but oddly, he turns a deaf ear to my wise observations and counsel :)
I'm not sure that "most white Americans" support Trump. The numbers don't suggest that- quite the opposite. He lost the popular vote by a good margin in both elections, and won the 2016 election only by gaming the electoral system.
According to Wikipedia’s entry on voter demographics, 58% of white votes went for Trump. That’s “most” in anybody’s book. (Sorry for the late response. Been on the road.)
“ Biden made gains with suburban voters. In 2020, Biden improved upon Clinton’s vote share with suburban voters: 45% supported Clinton in 2016 vs. 54% for Biden in 2020. This shift was also seen among White voters: Trump narrowly won White suburban voters by 4 points in 2020 (51%-47%); he carried this group by 16 points in 2016 (54%-38%). At the same time, Trump grew his vote share among rural voters. In 2016, Trump won 59% of rural voters, a number that rose to 65% in 2020.”
The statistics you cite discuss various demographics but don’t say how a majority of white voters cast their votes. According to Wikipedia’s entry on voter demographics, 58% of white votes went for Trump. That’s a 16-point majority. (Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been out of wifi territory for a week or so but didn’t want to let your comment go unanswered.)
Red Thread: books, TV and movies have been preventing some of the embedding - as you put it - for a long, long time: teaching compassion and understanding, dissolving fear by giving sheltered children friends of different colors and persuasions on the page and screen. That's the whole point of these book bans - to halt and reverse that progress.
Thank you for the Link Red Thread. As the abstract summary details the "SEP" Program has demonstrated benefit when "students study with & meet people from the other community". Authors: Joanne Hughes & Miles Hawkins.
Much like HCR's historical analysis of the attempted expansion of slavery in North America circa 1848-1861 there are deep & long lasting societal wrongs that still must be overcome.
The attached article about “the troubles” of Ireland and the resulting impact on children is a very interesting read. Lots of food for thought regarding educational settings: religious or faith based schools vs. “public” schools. Integrated schools can and do promote friendships between groups via contact with others. In this study it is about Catholic vs. Protestant. Just made me wonder how relationships form with empathy, understanding and tolerance for “others” when we set up our educational choices to favor one way of thinking. Sorry folks, just ruminating here. The comments regarding embedded racism got me there. Good studies in the link.
I appreciate your ruminations Christine. The study make me think about embedded conflicts going back to the 17th Century -- human beings enslaved in Virginia. In northern Ireland, circa 1760's groups of :people violently driven from.the land & forced to flee by ship to the Philadelphia port as refugees. Then push on to your state, the tolerant Pennsylvania.. From PENN migrate south down the Shenandoah Valley to Scranton. My mother's ancestors made that trip.. Many migrated back then but, we still carry the history all the way to 2023.
Red Thread, thank you for this citation. I looked for more recent research by Hewstone and found a 2020 research project that concluded that the influence of in- group friends still remains stronger than any external socialization in forming attitudes to out-groups. This is really interesting to me, having lived and studied in Ireland through the 90's, and realizing that the in- group/out-group division dies hard.....ironically, the mobility of folks in the EU has expanded the diversity of " out-groups" in the Republic beyond the so-called Catholic/Protestant divide( primarily cultural tags not doctrinal splits). But Brexit has probably stalled that greater ethnic mix in the North. The growth in the " Catholic" population in the North may push the unification of the Island. Who knows. It remains complicated. Just my thoughts. You may have other angles, especially as this research may apply to our own U.S. political partisanship.
That final sentence seems to corroborate the research that says peer/inner group attitudes hold more sway than socialization on the bigger arena. But I totally agree that community building could reduce the " othering". This is a multi- pronged challenge, isn't it. Thanks for the good exchange!
Talk about sacrifice. President Biden at 80 has chosen to lead his country out of this mess. He went into this knowing what it would mean for him and his family. He is a man with a stutter who gives intelligent speeches in front on crowds and cameras to audiences wailing for a chance to ridicule his slightest gaffe. Most people are more afraid of public speaking than anything else. Let’s never forget the courage OUR, as in we the people’s president, shows every day.
When I first read this, it took me a moment to realize that you were talking about Heather Cox Richardson (HCR). And then I realized that what I inadvertently saw was HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton). My goodness. In my mind, that is an excellent alignment.
Well, he did get 14 seasons of free publicity - produced by a team that decided to paint him as the successful titan of business rather than the "D lister" that he had become. I'll never forget seeing a young, single, working mom talk about how much she loved him on the show, and how happy she will be to vote for him (2016) because he's so good in business.
As a retired public school teacher (special education grades 7-12) I can relate! Unacceptable behavior needs to be called out, otherwise, students will run the place and bullies will dictate! Civics lessons, working for the "common good" (Robert Reich) is needed.
At my rural public school in East Texas the administration looked the other way when a student took on a bully and beat them silly. Yes, students still attempted the behavior but, quickly, someone would challenge the bully and beat him him in a fistfight. One of the worst bully's was put in the hospital by a kid who brought a short length of steel rod to school and crushed the back of the kids head.
The problem in America is: A bully, like Trump, pays off the politicians and the cops to protect them from the kid with a short length of steel rod.
In America, if someone beats the bully silly either literally or figuratively, then, the penalty will be on the person solving the bully problem, not the bully.
Trump has been a seriously nasty bully all of his life and NY City and NY FULLY supported him through the cops and the politicians he paid off.
My old East Texas school had it right. Teachers pretended nothing was happening when someone beat a bully silly and put him in the hospital.
OK with me.
But, until very, very, recently, NOBODY could take on Trump because NY City politicians and cops protected him.
Bullies deserve worse. Good for your school taking care of bullies. I wish bullies weren’t allowed to thrive. However when trump ran for President he won Texas and not NY.
The internet, social media, algorithms, Cambridge Analytics-- all serve to create and maintain levels of self-absorbed adolescent development and control in and of our people. And parents whose children are just an extension of themselves and are not taught boundaries and self-reflection. The high rates of anxiety, depression and attempted and successful suicide amongst teens due to the shallow and endless judging and bullying online is horrendous. Looks and fake happiness devoid of character and empathy online can impact others in disasterous, unattainable ways. Look who was installed as president in 2016. The internet is a giant yin/yang ball. Incredibly wonderful connections and information at our fingertips, whilst throwing so much negativity and information at us and our children. The impact cannot be healthy unless we use it judiciously. The intentional, algorithmic clickbait and addiction to it is a huge, additional issue for family and school strife these days. Mind-control capabilities easily flow into every home. Critical thinking skills are the most important thing you can teach today, particularly on how corporatocracy uses us. Trump, unfortunately, is the best tool of seeing how devoid of a soul a person can be. He is an insecure, empty, bloviating, revengeful and transactional, corporate, dangerous narcissist. Someone above mentioned it is time for republicans to grow up, it is time for America to move out of the adolescent phase and into the maturity of what a democracy can be by taking are really hard look at our white-privileged colonialist bricks and how they were laid. We have the opportunity right before us to re-build these bricks and honor those whose whipped-backs really built this country. NOW is dangerous and exciting...a perfect opportunity for an adolescent country to grow up by reconciling her shadows in order to mature.
Thanks a bunch for your insights! I agree wholeheartedly. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be a teenager in this age, where every mistake you make (like getting really drunk for the first time) could possibly end up on YouTube, TikTok, etc - you could even end up becoming a meme and circulate the whole world...
As to Trump: as T.J. Brearton wrote on Medium, he is a salesman. And what he is selling is the message: "It's perfectly ok to be a total asshole, just like me. Join my club of completely egoistic, narcisstic, misogynistic, racist and environment-hating assholes and be happy - fuck the rest!"
Pensa_VT: Standing ovation to all of your wonderful words, especially this: “Critical thinking skills are the most important thing you can teach today, particularly on how corporatocracy uses us.” Bravo!
As a counselor in all levels of public school. I can say that my biggest challenge was not the students but the parents of the most troublesome students. The students were the identified problems, and I watched many of them become the adults their parents were, sad to say. Of about five that I still have knowledge of, three are middle-aged MAGAts. They are the ones who had anti-social characteristics as teens. It’s not easy.
Red, back in my day of being a student in class, the teachers, instructors, had a solution for the disruptive student in the classroom. It was called “being sent to the dean’s office, or principal’s office”. Once there, that usually meant being bent over a chair and receiving several stern applications of a rather sizable paddle that had holes drilled in the ‘business’ end of it.
If (when)Trump loses his ability to do biz in NY, and loses his properties, possibly homes, significant wealth, and esteem, he will lose his mind for sure, whatever is left of it. His identity is so tied to his Midas Touch he won’t understand how this all happened “to such a great guy, a stable genius”. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men….can’t put Humpty Trumpty back together again. Bless AG James for all she has done for this country.
Without his wealth, businesses, and “brand,” TFG becomes one of the wounded he so feared being seen with, a “loser.” It’s a fitting beginning to his demise.
"If (when)Trump loses his ability to do biz in NY, and loses his properties, possibly homes, significant wealth,"
Don't hold your breath for all of that to actually happen Diane. Trump has spent his entire life doing whatever illegal stuff he wanted and getting by with it.
The best predictor of a future state is the immediate past state. So, the most likely thing to occur in Trump's case is nothing.
No matter now much financial damage he sustains, there are more than enough obscenely rich fascists out there to bail him out (*cough*Elon Musk*cough). As long as he remains useful, there will be plenty of dark money out there for him.
The question is: what happens when he stops being useful? Can the billionaires find another puppet who is as adept a con artist? I guess we'll find out at some point.
Do they support McCarthy for fear that any replacement would be worse, and hope that he got religion after his near death experience?
Do they accept that he is a liar and unreliable broker and vote en masse for Hakeem Jeffries with the 90 some members of the chaos caucus voting against McCarthy to remove McCarthy from the Speakership?
Do they simply vote present and hope that the Republicans who showed a tiny bit of spine in passing the continuing resolution elect someone better able to represent their concerns?
Do they vote to support a motion to table Gaetz's motion to vacate and allow McCarthy to swing in the wind like John Boehner did?
Choices, choices, choices, choices. It will be interesting to see how Hakeem Jeffries leads here--because it will show us how a new generation of Democrats will carry the torch. Thank you Nancy Pelosi for passing the torch.
I saw David Jolly last night on Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show. He is usually calm, funny and interesting, but he is trying to make the point that McCarthy has shown us - again and again - that he is not to be trusted and the Democrats should let him wallow in his own effluvia, so to speak. David was really vociferous, and absolutely convincing. It's about the country, and the country does not need a spineless, lying Speaker to run its House. If they vote to vacate, does Gaetz think that HE could be Speaker? That would be a joke. My husband only half jokingly suggested that, out of this debacle, Hakeem Jeffries might end up becoming Speaker. Now wouldn't that be a thing to see!
To report, tap on the 3 dots to the left, then click on "Report" (you may have to switch to "read in browser" to have access to the 3 dot feature). Then write what you believe is happening and/or what is offensive or questionable. So, yes, "suspected troll" has worked for me. As for rules of Substack, I think I have seen them somewhere, but mostly I just report, and let them sort.
I think they'll vote for a known quantity. McCarthy is indeed a liar and unreliable, but has proven he will do anything to retain the speakership. He needs Dems to save himself and "doing anything" may include taking Biden's impeachment motion and other nonsense off the table in exchange.
McCarthy is awful, but the Repub alternatives are worse. Agree Hakeem Jeffries would be a better choice but I think he's a bridge too far for most of them.
Well, McCarthy just unabashedly ignored an agreement he just made with POTUS a few months ago. So I don’t know how any Democrat would think of keeping him as Speaker - no matter what he promises them.
The Republican Party is falling apart before our eyes. Ripping itself to pieces might be a better description. What the RNC does with tfg's "demand" for the party to support him and him alone; canceling further debates, etc., will be a good indicator of which way the wind is blowing.
In any event, it's a good time for Democrats to follow the advice attributed to Sun Tzu in "The Art of War"; "Never interfere with your enemy while he is commiting suicide."
“Come hell or high water” .. great line by Judge Engoron and perfect way to start todays Letter. And a perfect way to end the Letter is the Dems reaction to Matt Foreheads speech. TY HCR for all the important details in between.
Agree. A well educated populace would hopefully, be immune to people like DT. Education is about learning to think, not just facts. But the lessons of history can be great teachers too. Teaching logic helps people achieve a moral compass as they’re better able to put things in perspective and see cause & effect.
I have a much loved relative who did not have the opportunity to go to college and was unable to get a job for which she was totally qualified. She asked me what is so important about college. I told her that college should help students develop critical thinking skills so that they are not reliant upon emotion, assumptions, and generations of family prejudices. It doesn't always work, given some of the cretins in the US House who lay claim to college degrees, but they are driven by other things, like money, fear, and their 15 minutes of fame.
Yet my aunt, typical of the majority of my extended family, once asserted with great sincerity that the downfall of America started with the creation of public education. A whole cadre of wealthy Americans believe that an educated public is actually a threat -- to them.
Red Thread, YES! One of the stated goals of the Moms of Liberty in Sarasota County, Florida, is the removal of empathy from the schools. Empathy. Sick and sad indoctrination of our youth to create more clones of tfg in the future. It. Must. Stop.
It's nice that Bob Inglis had a "road to Damascus" moment somewhere. But a far more important article to read would be David French's piece in the NYT about the two different strains of Christian Nationalism and how we're concentrating on the wrong one.
"In reality, the Christian nationalist movement that actually matters is rooted in emotion and ostensibly divine revelation, and it’s that emotional and spiritual movement that so stubbornly clings to Donald Trump."
That quote of Inglis's makes me so angry I can't stand to think about it: “The fight wasn’t against Al Gore; it was against climate change." You think, Bob? That was stupidity and childishness of genocidal proportions.
TC, I agree 100 % about that Christian nationalism article - a must read. But I don't think it does us any good to concentrate on either strain of it. There is no reaching people through that level of delusion.
I could hardly believe the quote about Al Gore. If the man had had an ounce of charisma (and if Bush's brother had not been the Governor of Florida, Home of the Hanging Chads), Gore would have and most certainly should have won that election. I believed so deeply in what he was saying about climate change that I bought a copy of the children's version of his book, "An Uncomfortable Truth," for my grandson, who was only about six years old. My grandson got it! He's a voter now, and he still has a copy of that book. It was so good to hear someone give credit to Al Gore. Our country would have moved so far toward addressing climate problems had he been allowed to lead.
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Charles Mackay,
Good observation! About 40% of convicted sex offenders fall in the category of immature attachment- emotionally they are the same age as their victims, who are younger than the age of consent. Representative Gaetz is not a convicted sex offender, but he exhibits many traits similar to that group, and he has very publicly behaved in ways
Matt Gaetz's appearance reminds me of a sleaze bag mobster in the film, ''Goodfellas''.... he looks sleazy and extremely corrupt. A good fit for the extremist MAGAs in the Fascist GQP.
I don’t find in the press that Matt Gaetz, while proudly preening on TV for his nihilism, is before the House Ethics Committee for his seedy personal behavior.
I am not quite so optimistic as HCR, but it really does feel like there could be a tipping point in the coming year or two (a serious election loss by GOP at many levels in 2024 will seal the deal I would like to imagine... but will this happen?). Retired or out of office Republicans can safely denounce Trump, but we will still need a significant number of currently serving invertebrate GOP governors and legislators to do the same before the tide will really change.
Thank you for reporting this fascinating call by Trump to cancel all future debates...
That Trump is concerned about his ebbing popularity showed tonight when his campaign released a statement demanding that the Republican National Committee cancel all future debates and focus on Trump’s evidence-free allegations that the Democrats are going to steal the 2024 election. If it refuses, the statement says, it will just show that national Republicans are “more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election.”
... If this does not happen, Trump will look like a fool and Democrats will be able to feed the “Trump is losing influence” story I’m not yet seeing reported by mainsteam news. It’s a story people need to hear! It just might lead someone from the GOP leadership (McConnell?) to publicly say “Enough is enough”!
Over the last fifty years, Donald Trump, once the spoiled, pretty-boy flimflam man, has transformed himself, into the vile, fascist ALL-CAPS crybaby named... Adolf Huckster.
The time is here - where we hold truth higher than narrative, character above flash, and the institution of democracy over the adulation of a single ruler. It’s time we raise our voices over the rumbles of a scared and angry minority, and show the world America is the united democracy we want.
My late husband, a third generation Marine, died in Tehran protecting a US Intelligence asset. He was not a loser. That person calls himself a "Christian" and those who follow him call themselves "Christians." They are not following Christ's leadership. John did.
So sorry for your loss. Your husband was a patriot and is a hero. The ex-president is not and will never be either of those things!
He (tffg) isn’t even American or Christian.
Exactly! How he so easily bamboozles so many people is an unfortunate comment on the American educational system as it stands...
While there is lots to criticize about American education, namely the over emphasis on sports, as a long time educator I observed that you have to have the cooperation of the student in some way. I had a government class with no college prep types and because most of them wanted to graduate, they did the work as best they could. Sadly, a lot of them were apathetic about politics and voting. In the few years I taught government, I had one student fail twice and part of that was because he had no encouragement from home. When I first started in the middle 70s, students could make more working in the woods than we did. That did not last and they became more interested in graduating. I have known many teachers who have made a difference for their students. Now with all the chaos created by the pandemic and the wing nuts who want to decide what books kids can read and what can be taught, it has become even a more difficult job.
I like your comment about the wingnuts and the crippling of education: banning books and sanitizing history. As a matter of fact, history should be a little more unsanitized in regards to the westward expansion and some of the wars.
It is amazing to me that what people believe about American history. For me it is always an ongoing process to learn more and it is often not pretty at all. When I was growing up, all of this was under the table, so to speak. NBC news had segment tonight on some students at high schools in north Texas and how upset they are with the removal of hundreds of books and the the refusal to address certain subject matter. The students are organized and they are all very articulate. They actually gave me some hope since they didn't accept it sitting down. My husband has interesting ancestry in terms of the movement west. Some of his ancestors were white people coming in wagon trains and viewing Native Americans as something in the way. He also has Lakota ancestry which puts an entirely different spin on the idea of bringing European values and "civilization" to the West. As I view the current situation, what we have is destruction in a relatively short time.
There are some very good opinion pieces in the NYT about why X is so popular. Both articles relate to emotion rather than cognitive. I ran out of the ability to gift.Paul Krugman & Jamelle Bouie. At the end of Mr Bouie's article , it references another article about why X lies
Perhaps it says more about the American emotional system, which gets more and more infantile every day.
Technically he is an American citizen: his grandfather was born in Germany, so he is a third generation American. However, his behaviour shows that he is culturally some small step up from mafia, doesn't know the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule, so you're right imho, that he is not a Christian.
His mother was born in Scotland so tfg is technically an “anchor baby,”
YESSS !, Barbara ! A True 'BOAT ANCHOR ' baby ! ( Leave him, With the TITANIC Crowd ! ( GOD !, was Trying to WAKE UP ! MANKIND even Back Then !! )
Mary Anne MacLeod Trump became a US citizen in 1942.
Trump was born in 1946.
I was thinking that an Amercian citizen commiting treason against the institution he ws elected to serve, is not a true American, but just a traitor. Technically, you are right, he is a third generation immigrant. Yes, I must be more careful about the leaps I make. Thanks!
That he is a third generation American does not make him (or members of Congress who follow him) any less traitors!
Nor is he able to name a single book of the Bible or a verse from it.
Not even "Jesus wept" John 11:35.
And to quote John Kelly on CNN "God help us".
Dave, With FAITH, Our LORD, WILL INTERCEDE !!
THATS ! A Fat AMEN ! " DESCERNMENT DAY !" ( The JUDGMENT ) Is NOT, Going to Bode Well. Even I, AM Supposed to Pray, for him, SOMEHOW ! ( LORD/GOD !, have Mercy ! )
Just have to name a 10 Commandment if you want a quote. Here's a good one for him." I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes when I lay my vengeance on them." Ezekial
EZEKIAL , Was Telling IT !, How it Is ! GOD !, Help MANKIND ! To Realize, God Does LOVE!, BUT GOD, is ALSO a JUST GOD ! There will be No 'FILTH !, in HEAVEN ! Read : John 14, Verse 6
One of my nicknames for him is mafia don because that is exactly how he behaves.
Grandfather was a draft dodger. Left Germany just before WWI and wanted to return right after. Germans refused him readmittance. He's stuck in America. and gets into shady real estate deals some of which include brothels. So you see some of trump's behavior was inherited.
Simply missing a huge chunk of humanity.
ABSOLUTLY, a PLASTIC CHRISTIAN ! ( Remember the ' Two CORINTHIANS Story ! ? ) Our VETERANS ..= SUCKERS , and LOSERS ??!! he NEEDS , as Much Prayer, as The PHAROH ! ( BUT !, That, Didn't Help him !!!, he Got WASHED AWAY ! ) MERCY !!
Death star is not a patriot, a Christian, a decent person. Rather he is a festering cancer on the body politic and a true loser as evidenced by his many failed businesses. He represents all that is bad in humankind.
I never understood the appeal. All he has to do is open his mouth and he reveals his fetid ignorance. That is why I must assume that he is merely a tool, but a tool gone wild with his own imagined "power".
Having known ignorant people who seem to like to remain that way, I can understand his appeal. I had an ex-classmate tell me that she wouldn't want to be well educated like me. I wanted to tell her that I wouldn't want to be a Christian like her, but I refrained. People often fear the educated and their reaction is to sneer and be rude. And follow someone who sticks it to libs and other assorted "dangerous' people. It's loving the class clown.
Ok, but WHY would any sane person want to follow the class clown? A string - a very long, loud, string - of fools: is that what America has devolved to?
You are on the mark. I really was thinking of so many of our Repug elected leaders. But, of course, they were hustling for their suppers just like MSM.
K Barnes, he Definitly, is a 'tool' , of lucifer ! MANKIND, is Now going to Witness, The " TIP !, of the ICEBURG ! " ( Reference, back, to the TITANIC !! ) Murdock, Couldn't AVOID IT !
So far, there is no one way to describe this "person".
Starting with "a cancer"... "a Looser".... "a Coward"........
"Mafia Don" is an insult to genuine Mafiosos.
holds the Bible upside down. Really?
THAT ! Janice , is a BAD spirit ! ( NOT !, the HOLY SPIRIT !)
had to have someone get a Bible for him because he didn't bring one with him.
Of course trumpers are screaming that Biden (even though he played sports) got deferred 5 x like trump. The major difference here is that Biden has respect for our soldiers. He would never support someone like Eddie Gallagher.
Thank you Sabrina, for your sacrifice, and for John's courage and Honor. Our country runs on the blood of heroes--something the so-called "Christians" will never grasp, because they don’t understand the sacrifice of the One they claim to believe in....
ABSOLUTLY !, on the MARK ! , Gus !
So sorry for your loss. Thank you and John for your sacrifices. It is so appreciated.
My uncle was a Marine in the Pacific theater of WWII. He was killed in battle in March 1945, just a few months before the war ended. I did not know him. Every Memorial Day, my family has always made a point to remember and to honor all of our brave fighting men and women, especially those who have passed on.
Blessing to you and your family.
I watched the ceremony for General Milley’s retirement and changing of the guard it’s entirety. You can find it on The White House.gov. It was a simple, beautiful event that underscored the extreme sacrifices our service people and their families make in defense of our nation . It also underscored the mutual respect President Biden and General Milley have for one another. I’m glad I watched it. Such a welcome contrast to TFG.
Thank you, Susan. I've been on a little bit of a holiday and missed that. I have tremendous respect for General Milley, and want to watch the ceremony to honor him and all the other military members who lived up to their commitment to the Constitution and simple honor.
I will add your uncle to the names on my stand when I play my Memorial Day concerts.
What a nice gesture, Ally.
Thank you. Lt Charles Fowler.
So noted, Sky.
Many of us can add quite a few names to your Memorial Day roster Ally. In addition to those painful absolute losses like Sky's. It's enough for me to think you'll be playing for every one of those fathers and sons and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and mothers who went to work at places like Curtis Wright in Paterson, including my mom when my dad was slogging around on Okinawa... Thank you for your tributes to all who made sacrifices for our Democracy.
BLESSINGS , ALWAYS ! Ally !!
My father was there too. Earned a bronze star. He was devastated by the news of his beloved older brother’s death. He was haunted by the feeling that if one of them had to die, it should have been him, not his brother.
No support groups. PTSD had not been “discovered”.
War is terrible.
If we do not do everything we can to help Ukraine, our soldiers will soon be fighting yet another war.
Enough.
My father was also in WWII and served on a destroyer tender. I’m convinced that he had PTSD afterwards but as mentioned there was no help for that problem at the time. Both my parents made sacrifices. My father was gone for long periods at sea and my mother would travel by train around the country trying to meet him the next time his ship came into port. My father was a Republican; my mother a Democrat. But I’m sure both of them would be very concerned today about threats to our democracy.
My Dad was a bomber pilot who flew over Europe. I know you are a bit removed being so high in the air, but 50% of the pilots didn't return. That fact had to be in the back of your mind. He came back to base one time. Evidently they thought he had been shot down, and his things had been removed from his locker. Flew in Korea also. Always had a Moscow Mule in his hand every night-his way of coping I guess.
And my dad would come home from work and drink beer. Self medicating.
He lied about his age to join the Marines in 1942 before he was even out of high school. To be so young and go through 3 years of fighting. I can not even fathom it. Came home to a hero’s welcome. GI bill made him the first in his family to graduate college. Got married. Got a job. Raised a family. Paid his taxes. But the terrors were there. Beer kept them at bay I guess. No support groups. No one to talk to about it. Soldier on.
Hope that todays veterans have more support.
Sky !, Are 'Younger Ones, Do, BUT, OUR "NAMS" , and Older, Still Struggle ! ( They are Waitin' for Us, to DIE OFF ! )
BLESSINGS, to You, AND, Your Family Sky ! GOD, Blessed Me, to 'come Home' NOW ! , I have Much WORK, Still Left, to DO !
Glad you are home.
Onward and upward!
Thank you.
Condolences, and, thank you for his and your service.
I'm so sorry. Your husband must have been a very brave and honorable man. Trump is so clearly neither.
Sabrina, your husband is an American Hero, a true Patriot, a man of Honor, and respect. I, for one, respect all soldiers, regardless of their military service they serve, they serve to protect all of us, and I deeply thank each and every one of them.
I’m truly sorry he was taken from you, but you have him with you every moment of every day. He remains in your heart, your thoughts, and your prayers, each day. Thank you so very much for sharing this story with us!
Beautifully said, Daniel.
Sabina Your late husband was a hero serving his country. Bone Spur Donald is the ultimate loser for how he has denigrated our America as an antiChrist.
Keith, the killer is that they let him do it!! He got away with all those horrible disgusting comments to war heroes and POW's and Gold Star Families, troops everywhere...the slurs and attacks and lies and sleights of hand, the complete inability to grasp the meaning of honor. Then, there was all that strange and outrageous talk about, and noodling with, Putin, the "strong man", Kim Jong Un's "love letters" and the monumental foreign policy clumsiness and gaffs and, yet, the party marched right on behind him playing Yankee Doodle Dandy as if it really didn't matter at all. And MSM kept reporting ridiculous poles about Biden's advancing age acting as if it was impolite to actually report that the "Word Salad Generator-in-Chief" kept smearing poop wherever he went and could not hold up his own end of a third grader conversation. I hope I live long enough to see this disabled humanoid AND his handlers win exactly what they all deserve. Excuse my rant....widow of a Purple Heart veteran who, with consummate dignity, paid for his Purple Heart, all the remaining days of his life. Even so, this man remained forever grateful for his gift of life, however challenging, respectfully remembering the guys who never made it back, at all, from DakTo. I've just recently begun to read his mud stained letters, tucked away for decades, reporting on grunt life in the monsoon swamped, leech infested, sniper ridden jungles. At the very same time, "Bone Spurs" was desperately trying impress "model" types in NYC discos, trying to boost his fragile self esteem, while paling around with NYC sleaze, such as Roy Cohn, reportedly imagining himself as belonging to some kind of a mobster class. Yankee Doodle Dandy Republicans. They will never EVER hold water in my eyes again! IMHO, the whole lot of them deserve the strictest enforcement of "aiding and abetting the enemy". Believe me, I am trying very hard not to post this......
KB, thank you for posting this….your raw and honest thoughts & emotions speak the truth.
K Barnes !!, It Is Called RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION !! Our Loving GOD ! , Does UNDERSTAND ! HE Does, also SPEAK, About " VENGANCE !, is MINE ! " Thus Sayeth, the LORD ! LORD ! Call in !, Your Children ! WAYWARD MANKIND !, Will NOT, WITHSTAND ! YOUR WRATH !!
OUR LORDS BLESSINGS ! Unto You ! , K Barnes !
“Greater love has no one, than that of laying down one’s life for another”. I’m so very sorry for your loss, but so very grateful for your husband’s service-and yours. Peace be yours. 🙏💙🙏💙🙏
Thank you, Sabrina. Your husband was a hero; of that there is no doubt.
Amen, Sabrina. Your husband was, indeed, a true Christian. I cannot begin to imagine the depth of your loss and I am so very sorry for it.
Absolutely obscene how tfg characterized members of the armed services. The depth of his disrespect offends us beyond words. I am so sorry your husband's memory, as well as all those who made the ultimate sacrifice, were so callously dismissed. Know that there are thousands behind the scenes working to get the vote out to see that this heartless monster does not get a second term.
KEEP !, Your FAITH ! , Sabrina ! , AND ALL ! of the Rest, of US, That are SUFFERING, OUR LOSSES !
I am so sorry.
All the earlier responses say it indeed for John and yourself, and for everyone who care for what America best stands for.
I’m so sorry for the loss of your husband. Every word you said is true.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. Such a stark contrast to what is being revealed about TFG. I am so sorry for your loss and pray you are surrounded by support and comfort.
What I truly do no understand is how these attitudes of TFG's are ok with his followers. According to one study, less than 50% of MAGA supporters have incomes over $50k. A Brookings report indicates that over 60 percent of 2016 enlistments came from neighborhoods with a median household income between $38,345 and $80,912. So a fair number of MAGA's must have relatives in the military. How are they OK with his contempt for their own relatives?
https://sites.uw.edu/magastudy/demographics-group-affinities/
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-u-s-military-became-the-exception-to-americas-wage-stagnation-problem/#:~:text=An%20April%202018%20demographic%20analysis,income%20between%20%2438%2C345%20and%20%2480%2C912.
JUST ! ,, pure BLIND ! ( and VACUUM FILLED, Heads !) LORD HAVE MERCY !
Yes, but why?? TFG tapped into something stronger than even blue collar patriotism and love of "out troops." We need to learn what it is (fear? hatred? discouragement?) and find a way to reach at least some of his people. Maybe the young?
Chaplain Terry ! TFG Has A REPROBATE heart ! FEAR, HATRED, and DICOURAGMENT, Are The ABSOLUTE Driving Forces, For him , and his ilk ! At This POINT, ONLY JESUS, and HIS HOLY GHOST !, CAN Pull ALL !, out of The ONCOMMING FIRE ! BLESSINGS!
"Jesus and his Holy Ghost" or by whatever other names one calls the "divine" or "Non-physical" as manifested in so many good hearted ordinary people. We just need to wake up more of us!
Chaplain Terry ! ....... WAKE UP !!, is Where, ' The RUBBER !, Meets, THE ROAD !!' SO MUCH !, in AGREEANCE ! TIME !,,, is getting REAL SHORT ! JESUS, Did SAY MY ReTURN, will be, like, ,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,, A THEIF ! ,,, ,,,, iin THE NIGHT ! . ( IS , " The GUARDSMAN !, .... ... ... ON, HIS POST ??!! ) BLESSINGS !!
Semper Fi, John Hanan, USMC.
I sure hope you’re correct that the tide is turning.
Even if it is, we can not let our guard down.
No, we can’t. We must keep pressure up. We saw at the mid-terms what happens when we slack up. We ended up with this mess in the House of Representatives we now have. A “cluster-fu*k!”
We can NEVER afford to let our guard down.
I agree!
Now all we gotta do is call out his even bigger(!) lie that the 2024 election is already rigged against him!
OMG!
This just in from a friend, but it is proof positive that those closest to Trump admit that he is a misfit and unfit to be POTUS.
Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump
Jake Tapper, Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent
Mon, October 2, 2023, 2:58 PM PDT·7 min read
John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN.
Kelly set the record straight with on-the-record confirmation of a number of damning stories about statements Trump made behind closed doors attacking US service members and veterans, listing a number of objectionable comments Kelly witnessed Trump make firsthand.
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.
“A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”
In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
Those details also include Trump’s inability to understand why the American public respects former prisoners of war and those shot down in combat. Then-candidate Trump of course said in front of a crowd in 2015 that former Vietnam POW Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, was “not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” But behind closed doors, sources told Goldberg, this lack of understanding went on to cause Trump to repeatedly call McCain a “loser” and to refer to former President George H. W. Bush, who was also shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II, as a “loser.”
CNN reached out to the Trump campaign Monday afternoon, telling officials there that a former administration official had confirmed, on the record, a number of details about the 2020 Atlantic story, without naming Kelly, and seeking comment. The Trump campaign responded by insulting the character and credibility of retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, who had nothing to do with this story.
The Atlantic article also described Trump’s 2018 visit to France for the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I, where, according to several senior staff members, Trump said he did not want to visit the graves of American soldiers buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” During that same trip to France, the article reported, Trump said the 1,800 US Marines killed in the Belleau Wood were “suckers” for getting killed.
And Kelly’s statement adds context to a story in the book “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” by Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, in which Trump, after a separate trip to France in 2017, tells Kelly he wants no wounded veterans in a military parade he’s trying to have planned in his honor. Inspired by the Bastille Day parade, except for the section of the parade featuring wounded French veterans in wheelchairs, Trump tells Kelly, “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade.”
“Those are the heroes,” Kelly said. “In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are – and they are buried over in Arlington.”
“I don’t want them,” Trump said. “It doesn’t look good for me.”
The story squares with another recent story from Goldberg in The Atlantic, a profile of retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, in which Trump does not react well to seeing severely wounded Army Captain Luis Avila singing “God Bless America” at a welcome event for the new chairman. “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.”
Kelly’s statement also refers to a remark Trump made in response to that same article, which describes Milley, in the closing days of the Trump presidency in 2020, receiving intelligence that the Chinese military feared Trump was about to order a military strike on it. Milley, in a call authorized by Trump administration officials, reassured his Chinese counterparts that such a strike was not going to happen.
That call was first reported in 2021 in the book “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, but Trump said this past week on his social media site that the call was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.”
Asked for reaction to the suggestion that he deserves execution, Milley told Norah O’Donnell of “60 Minutes” that he wouldn’t “comment directly on those, those things. But I can tell you that this military, this soldier, me, will never turn our back on that Constitution.”
Kelly’s statement to CNN comes days after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson sat down with CNN in an interview promoting her new book, “Enough,” and warned the public that “Donald Trump is the most grave threat we will face to our democracy in our lifetime, and potentially in American history.”
“Enough,” interestingly, contains a scene in which Hutchinson and then-White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin push back against Goldberg’s 2020 story. Griffin issued a statement to The Atlantic after that story posted denying the report.
Reached for comment over the weekend, Griffin said, “Despite publicly praising the military and claiming to be the most pro-military president, there’s a demonstrable record of Trump bashing the most decorated service members in our country, from Gen. Mattis to Kelly to Milley, to criticizing the wounded or deceased like John McCain. Donald Trump will fundamentally never understand service the way those who have actually served in uniform will, and it’s one of the countless reasons he’s unfit to be commander in chief.”
No other presidential candidate in history has had so many detractors from his inner circle. His former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN in November 2022, “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.”
Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, told CBS in June that “he is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. … He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this.”
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this story.
Richard- thanks for amassing this material. It is an outrage that Trump's shocking behavior continues to go unpunished and that he views Americans who put others ahead of themselves as losers. When are the public, the courts, going to hold him accountable? How can he make threats against judges and other officers of the court and not be charged with contempt of court? He is the ultimate challenge to the resilience of American institutions. It's almost 2024 and the jury is still out on who will prevail.
True, but this issue has been on the burner for a long, long time - racism. What binds the Evangelicals to Trump is their racism. Christs' teachings (Matthew 25: 34-46) mean nothing. Google "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" These people are manipulated by the oligarchs. Several books address this, including Thomas Frank;s "What's the Matter with Kansas," and HCR's just published, "Democracy Awakening." We're in the battle of our lives right now against the most serious threat to our democracy, and it is coming from Americans.
Isabel Wilkrson, in her book "Caste" lays out the continuing racist caste system in the US as a direct cause of Trump's unlikely success in 2016 and since. The oligarchs supply the money, but caste-conscious racism - the antithesis of "All Men are created equal" - supplies much of the motivation.
I am not familiar with Wilkerson's book. I'd be interested to see how she treats the issue of implicit bias. I just checked her out. Impressive resume. I'll get caste. I grew up in abject poverty in Jim Crow Texas in the '40's and '50's, a white male. My mom, a New Yorker, was telling me as I was going to school barefoot because my only pair of shoes was in the repair shop that I could be anything that I wanted to be, that it was up to me. I took that as fact generally but when I was 20 years old I encountered two phenomena. I was at the Army Language School learning Chinese when I saw a Black soldier and a white soldier sharing the same dorm room. I reacted to it, but I immediately realized that my reaction would be what I came to learn was implicit bias. I also realized that my mom was only correct in a certain respect: I might be able to be what I wanted but it was because I was white and male. I have fought for equal rights for all ever since, putting my wife through medical school in the 1970's when 10% of her Stanford Med School was female. It is now 50%.
Great books, all. I think Wilkerson reads and writes like a poet.
Richard S you are exactly right. It’s the racism.
Yes. It’s racism. It has always been racism.
The bible said Judge not lest ye be judged. Includes Evangelicals too. Yes! we are in a very dangerous time.
We are, perhaps, at the most dangerous point in our nation's history, even more dangerous than the Civil War because the threat is no longer confined to geographical boundaries. It's like a cancer that has metastasized throughout the body.
I don't understand, either, how he can make threats against a judge publicly.
No need to stoop to his level. Being an adult is recognition of true maturity and will win in the end. Voters will be the judge and jury. God knows how tired we are of all this drama in elections in our beautiful country.
But, how to explain 70 million Republican MAGA members still supporting a low life, a completely worthless human like Donald Trump? My belief is that white Protestant supremacy is more important to them than the democratic process: one person, one vote, majority rule. I dare say that among those racists there are some who unknowingly have some "Black blood."
Kelly did make some efforts to rein Trump in, and quit/got fired for his efforts. Barr rode the crazy train much further before he bailed, and if Trump had prevailed, I am not sure that Barr would have left at all. They both state, as personal revelations, what most people have seen in Trump from the beginning. Hutchinson’s excuse, that she was very very young, and as blinded by power as those old men were blinded by her youth and beauty, but managed to hang on to some inner moral compass, is slightly more believable, but I have quit jobs when I was told to falsify data, or told to tolerate sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace. The fact that 2 of them stuck around throughout the whole process of Trump setting up the treasonous plan to bring down the government does not speak well of their judgement or their character, does it?
It does not speak well at all.
Well said, Notes.
"It doesn't look good for me". He has an unpleasant idea of what does "look good" for him.
Trump is a pure narcissist, making G.W. Bush look like a piker. The condition has dehumanized him.
I think his father dehumanized him in his crib. And his father before him, a draft dodger germany kicked out.
He comes from a long line of disgusting men.
While I am grateful to those former staffers speaking up and out, I can’t imagine this was new news to any of them. This has always been who and what Trump is. Always.
Thank you.
Yes these reports have been floating around for years....like gnats on a summer evening. Annoying but basically ignored. Why, how, did MSM treat these glimpses into the soul of a president, or lack thereof, as mere blips on a screen? Mere profit motive?
He stated in 2016 that if he lost, the election was rigged. He planted and lovingly tended that seed from the word go.
Agreed that he planted the anti-democracy seed, but since he is incapable of doing anything “lovingly,” I would substitute the word “hatefully.” Every utterance, every step he takes is drenched in mendacity, deceit, and projection.
Thank you Maureen: ‘mendacity’. A perfect description of the shrinking t-balloon. Also ‘drenched in ...deceit and projection’. As he deflates 🙏 my hopes rise.
(I remain vigilant & concerned about his cadre of fervent too often violent followers everywhere)
The most vile dictators in history had supporters.
Vote as if your life depends on it. It just might.
Oh yes. I’m wondering if those ‘vile dictators’ serve as a person’s dark side? That way each one of these unconscious individuals doesn’t need to own their individual shadow side.
Unfortunately, that would include 3 of my 4 remaining siblings. Have been waiting for the fever to break for 6 years now.
Addicted. Awful. Maureen, you have my sympathies: plural for 4.
There ought to be a program like Alanon for those with family who are sleep walking and glued to little t?
I’m deeply grateful my siblings swing as I do, and all on Cape Cod like you.
I was being facetious in my choice of wording.
I learned that word when I was a senior in high school in civics class, used by Mr. Victor Wattner, of Van Zandt County, Texas. I don't see "facetious" used too often but love it when I do see it. He was a good teacher.
Every game that he loses must be rigged. How could it be otherwise? How could the Great and Awesome God Emperor Trump _ever_ lose if it isn’t rigged?
Spot on about dumpster fire trump
The 'bad seeds' have always existed among us. Trump was the extremely effective grower who tended his garden of criminality just affectively enough to harvest enough voters to give him free pass to the presidency of our great nation. It's up to us to remember the lesson learned here, and to pass it on to further generations. Strengthening our public education system is key. With more than 30 years in service there, I know first hand. Teach them to know and demand better, or get this again, and far worse the next time.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Every one of us should read the book about the “dug out” schools in the Midwest in the 19th century. Half underground in winter (doing crops during growing season)!students and teachers learned history, Latin, and math, the bases of a liberal education. It wasn’t “job training” as our corporate “sponsors” would have US learn now so we can be serfs and back half underground spiritually if not literally. Never forget Monty Python: “If you don’t know the Latin, ya gotta do the hackin’ and the hewin’.”
Having had a year of the Latin and one of the Greek, plus a semester of Comp lit to read Aristophanes (still hilarious after a few thousand years), during these difficult years since 2016, it’s been “and the gods laughed” almost every day. Then TODAY, a book entitled, “How to Be Abe Lincoln in Seven Steps.” The first step: Laugh. Remembered vaguely that Abe was a jokester, but that people came to the White House for his jokes is not what you get in history class. But it’s closer to home for US than Aristophanes. Now if we can just get funding for Ukraine....Everyone can watch “Servant of the People” and laugh together.
And, teach them how to think critically: This website https://thinkingispower.com/ is run by Melanie Trecek-King, an associate professor of biology at Massasoit Community College in Massachusetts. Brilliant.
Zelensky won the presidency with a comic sitcom!
All we need do is VOTE by the millions!
Yes! But gerrymandering has reduced the results of democratic and Black voters. We must stop the redistricting of the vote to unfairly influence elections.
And do something about the electoral college
There are things Democrats can do, in addition to voting. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/02/democrats-rule-changes/?
Will he accept he's a loser? I think he is unable. I hope his cult may be able to if we use our voices in addition to our votes. He is a liar, a thief and a dictator wannabe. And the republican party has been complicit, up until an hour before closing last week.
Cults do not listen to voices from outside. They did not in Waco, nor among Jim Jones' followers. And neither will Gaetz, Greene, and the rest of that crew. Voting them out is the only answer.
Georgia Girl, Hillary won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. It’s the Electoral College that puts an evil finger on the scales of Justice.
Remember tfg’s plans with false electors. 🎃https://ourwhitehouse.org/getting-the-votes-and-getting-elected-the-popular-vote-vs-the-electoral-college/
Poor guy, he only has one schtick : oh poor pitiful me.
The childish howls of “unfair”!
He really is dull, isn’t he?
He’s boring as hell. Tank his ratings.
That’s his campaign slogan, always. Accuse others of what you do. Goebbel’s best
Lynn, As in the NY City trial currently running, I fear that his definition of "rigged" is "following the rules" or "Expecting someone to present the truth" in a financial statement. Similarly his definition of "the deep state" is bureaucrats, judges and lawyers actually adhering to the rule of law and precedent. I'll take that kind of "rigging" by "the deep state" any day. I choose to be "awake" to facts!
Yes. I can’t believe he’s started that already!
It is only rigged if he loses. What a jerk. That is the nicest pejorative one can use for the likes of ____, I have trouble writing his name.
TFG is the ultimate loser. Let’s work together to ensure it stays this way.
ENORMOUS CROCKS !, of Steaming B S !! ( and LOSERS, BUY ! , that Schitt !! )
I think it is clear that a great many things point to a weakening of the "GOP's" hold on the narrative, which is not to say they are no longer a serious threat.
Continuing serious threat, the cult nuts even have Chump, Jr. In line for the presidency, so I have heard. Even a heart attack will not end the insanity.
His whole family should be stripped of their USA citizenship and banished.
Along with Rupert and his crew of vipers
Remember that Trump Jr is named The Baron which is right up there with Musk naming his son after a number, I believe. Wing nuts all.
When chump was running in 2020, I saw a tee with chump til 2028, Don Jr 2028 til 2036, Ivanka 2036 til 2044. Forgot about Baron, guess he could take over after Ivanka. Apparently, Eric was not a favorite. Crazy is devoted. So glad Biden interrupted that nightmare.
I feel so bad for kids whose parents hang their emotional hangups around their necks.
Perhaps 2 heart attacks will.
CHUMP !!, Keep Poundin' Down !, Those 'BIG MACS !!'
one can dream
Certainly feels like it is....
And not turning too early, I hope
Wow, a whole letter full of good news!! Thank you!
All of these condemnations by top Rs and military leaders need to go out in video ads. Not that I believe the hard core are capable of listening but they are powerful indictments to put before so-called independents. Great quotes for us to spread on social media, too (below).
And Thomas recusing himself - that's huge.
General John Kelly: “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason—in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law…. There is nothing more that can be said,” he added. “God help us.”
Army Major General Paul Eaton: “Who could vote for this traitor Trump?”“Vote Democratic...our country’s honor depends on it.”
General Mark Milley: We don’t take an oath to a country. We don’t take an oath to a tribe. We don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual.
“We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.…"
Alexandra, I took an Oath in 1970 to protect and defend our Constitution. I did this as a law enforcement officer in South Carolina, and again as a firefighter. I worked in those careers for over 26 years until I was forced to give them up due to injuries sustained.
Now, today, I continue to honor this same Oath to defend our Constitution against these attacks by the former President, the white supremacy groups he’s supporting, mobilizing, encouraging, to commit acts of violence against our Constitution, our Democracy, our legal system and its excellent workers.
Now, instead of weapons that fire projectiles, I use my keypad and fingers. It’s all I have, with my mind, to keep telling people that we must get to the polls. We can not allow this gerrymandering, and these laws that the Republicans are cranking down our throats to try to gain, and stay in, power keep us drum voicing our opinions or voting to have our selected candidates serve our will.
I firmly believe that the only way we, the people, are going to defeat this facist republican coup group is to completely destroy the Republican Party. We must vote every single one of them out of office. Not only at the federal level, but at all levels. Local, county, state, and federal. All Republicans must go. They must see that we will not stand for this type of nonsense, ever!
Thank you for this comment. I am 77 years old and frustrated that I cannot do more. I give what I can (which isn't much) to the DNC and to candidates in battleground states (like Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio), but other than that -"I use my keypad and fingers. It’s all I have, with my mind, to keep telling people that we must get to the polls." Thank you so much for those words! Me too!
I too, am 71, Barbara. Homebound, disabled, and send my day hooked up to machines to breathe. I no longer have control of any money, but I have no money anyway, left. But, I have my mind, my fingers, and this keypad. As long as I have those three things, and Substack family, I’ll going to keep on yelling, preaching, telling people, that we must vote. No matter what. We gave to get to the polls and vote. We cannot allow these Republicans to take control.
Daniel, you're a powerhouse. Thanks for these awesome posts.
Thanks, Alexandra. I’m just a normal ‘old Joe’ that can’t keep his mouth shut!
Well put, Daniel!! That’s what it will take to effect change — MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of us ‘normal old Joe’s’ to keep speaking out!
KEEP PREACING ! , Daniel !, IM 75, BUT !,, That is NOT ! Gonna' SLOW Us, 'DOOMERS' !, DOWN !! Fom a VET, to a plastic president/Heel Spurs/ MOTORMOUTH LIAR.....KNUCKLE SANDWICH !! Coming UP !! ( WOT A MANGOWANKER !! )
Bless you, Daniel! At 89, I am fighting to continue walking without a walker, marching days over, but can still do GOTV postcards and join the rest of us to boost courage in the face of the plagues that have befallen US and the world.
WOW! 89 and walking withoiut a walker. Bless you, Virginia. Fantastic! Hell, I had to fight 23 years ago to get out of the hospital bed after almost 2 1/2 years and just to walk with a walker. I went from hospital bed, to wheelchair, now on a walker.
Good for you! The patience it takes to keep a body going from the time we try to walk until the time we give up on the effort, for whatever reason. Keep up the good work!
I’m from Ohio so appreciate your donation to Sherrod Brown - an outstanding D Senator.
I couldn't agree with you more. I lived in Ohio for a year and wish Sherrod Brown had the name recognition that would make him a candidate for president. His Midwest values and wise decisions, coupled with the "look" of a president (tall, graying, with gravitas!). I like the guy. My husband and I talk about the fact that we really value what President Biden is doing, but the polls are still scary. And Kamala Harris doesn't have the polling power to help him. If he had a different VP candidate (maybe Gavin Newsom?), it might help to offset the fears that his health could fail. I love Pete B., but I can't imagine a married gay man with two adorable children surviving a national election. Some of the people in this country are still stuck decades if not hundreds of years behind the overall "sense" of the country. Sorry. I'm babbling.
Not babbling, just sharing what's on your mind. That's what we do here - sparking conversations among people without being judged. I, too, have admired Sherrod Brown for years and was disappointed that Biden didn't select him for VP.
I wasn’t a Kamala “fan” and I’m still not. But I’m certainly not a foe. She is a very intelligent gutsy woman who would be fine as POTUS because she’s smart, would put and listen to good people around her and is there FOR OUR COUNTRY. And she has an excellent track record as an AG and U.S. Senator. I wasn’t a fan of Biden either till he got there and has accomplished so much. Please don’t denigrate the thought of Kamala as VP - it feeds the Joe Biden naysayers. And if she were replaced by a white guy, Joe would lose the black vote, which he needs to win again.
You misunderstand me. I think Kamala is awesome. I read her book years ago and have told many people what she did to help California homeowners survive the 2008 mortgage debacle. She was the Attorney General of a State with a huge economy and had the clout to get someone like Jamie Dimon on the phone and tell him how it was going to be! I am concerned that she has not had the opportunity to strengthen her national name recognition and build confidence among voters that she could step in as POTUS and do a great job. I don't think people know her, but she needs opportunities to be out there this year. It would help offset the fears people have because of Biden's age. If they look at a vigorous, healthy, smart VP, they should be able to rest assured that the country would be in good hands if Joe's health failed. I don't think people know her well enough yet, and I'd like to see Joe Biden do everything he can to change that. It's in his best interest and in the best interest of the country.
We might just clear out Texas. Imagine sanity AND competence again.
I hope you’re correct about clearing the Rs out of Texas. 🙏🙏
I'm going to a family reunion on Sat West of FW. I'll sniff the air... Hope I survive
God Bless you. You won’t find me ever stepping a foot in Texas again.
The cheating has pretty much assured that the cretins will win any election. Hoping not, but Beto would have won. The deck is stacked, sad to say
DANIEL !!, keep PENNIN ' !! HIT !, the Polls !, in DROVES ! ,,,,,,DEMS !!
Well said🙏And thank you for your years of service to our nation and our communities.
Thanks, Susan. Appreciat it, but, like all my brothers and sisters sworn to Protect and Serve will tell you. We were just doing our jobs.
I agree, but it is necessary to replace it with something better.
I hope other Americans are as tired as I am of the Professional Victim.
Nailed him. A real victim he is not, but he leaves victims in his path wherever he has trod.
As the title of the book says “Everything Trump Touches Dies “.
Someone put a meme on Twitter (when it was Twitter) that said Trump was King Midas in reverse. Everything he touched turned to schitt. I think that came from Tony Soprano's visit to his therapist.
This boob was chauffeured to private schools in a limo and sits on a golden toilet seat like Saddam Hussein. He is an opportunist not a victim.
That's why "Professional Victim" is such a good descriptor.
Good description. Shall we refer to him from now on as "PV"? (Just realized it's an accidental pun, too! What fun.)
Thomas recused himself from this case because Eastman was his law clerk, and it’s a small sop to the critics. He has no loyalty to Eastman, and perhaps he was offended that such a meaningless dweeb invoked his name.
I don’t think he recused out of suddenly found rectitude.
I have no illusions that it was a sudden flash of conscience! But I think—hope—they're feeling some pressure.
Or maybe Roberts warned him that he myst recuse himself.
Excellent, Alexandra! For my part, I won't worry about what I can say to convince the other side. I prefer to just speak my truth.
Thomas recusing himself in this case… The man couldn’t make it more obvious where his loyalty lies; NOT with the American people, in any case.
“So-called Independents”? I’ve been an Independent my whole life. Nothing “so-called” about it.
I believe you, Max, but you have to admit there are a LOT of "so-called" independents out there.
Why did the US become so entangled with Donald J. Trump’s twisted personality? He is totally at war with his rivals and totally in the moment. He has a penchant for malice and lying. He is self-serving, aggressively cruel, while seeking outside gratification. Trump values power and money above all, and people not at all. Why did America allow itself to become his plaything?
HCR writes of examples that indicate the tide is turning. How stable is the country? How much can we
come together as Biden has steadfastly worked toward?
'There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American. That's our soul. That's who we truly are. And that's who must — we must always be.'
___President Joseph R. Biden, September 1, 2022
Why do most white Americans support Trump? Because he proudly professes the profound and raging racism embedded in his psyche and theirs.
Rex, THAT is the issue. Led mainly by former Confederate States, generations of these clowns have done everything they could since 1866 to undermine this country over the issue of racism....errrr....oh yeah the proper 'dog whistle' is 'States Rights'!
100Panthers: "Led mainly by former Confederate States"
I would like to offer that Donald Trump, the most racist public figure of my lifetime, emanated from New York/New York city.
If you think there is not overt, beyond unbelievable racism in the north, then, you don't live there as a minority.
The North is WAY more segregated than the south. I grew up in the south and live in the north today. By 1966 my school was fully desegregated.
My kids went to school up here in the North in FULLY SEGREGATED PUBLIC SCHOOLS from 2005 to 2017. Not by my choice, but by the choice of the entire north American culture.
The city I live in is about as far north as you can get in America and it has THE most segregated public school system in America as reported by several magazines last year.
It is NOT the SOUTH that is the problem in America. It is AMERICANS that are the problem in America.
You are right Mike. I grew up in an affluent MA suburb. My folks moved there for the quality of the schools. They certainly couldn't afford to live there - but they pulled it off for us. However, there were no people of color in the entire town. None. I lived in a white bubble created by red lining and the bigotry that supported it.
I was recently reading about the bussing of kids from Dorchester to "Southie" - and the reverse. Interestingly, they were just shuffling kids from one under funded school system to another. The Black kids should have been bussed to Sudbury or Weston or Newton - towns with nice schools and big budgets.
We fail to address the elephants in the room. Generational, inherited and currently reinforced income and wealth inequality. Integration is what normal should be. But until we address the theft of wealth from the working poor and eliminate zip code school funding, the door to the trap people of color have been living in will remain closed.
Yes Bill, I think you've hit on a more powerful incentive for opening the dollar taps on which political activity seems totally reliant: wealth inequality. Hence we get these relentless requests, even demands, that we pay our money to buy, oops, to elect our preferred candidates! ...and who has the most money to give away to elect someone who will do the bidding of the wealthy?
You are 100% correct. I now live in one if those towns that has grown to affluence since I have been here, south of Boston. It is rotten how homogenized and conservative my former working man's community has become.
Yes it is.
Thanks Bill. Yes.
Private schools need to be abolished. If there were only public schools, ALL parents would be more invested in making sure the schools their children would attend would have the best of everything. Private schools reinforce privilege and insure class and race divisions.
And if we can't do that, then private schools must not allow tuition.
How about our tax dollars now going to fund some of the Catholic schools! Another insane use of my tax dollars.
Outrageous.
Mischele, I fear that eliminating private schools would only amplify the incentive to "redline" wealthy enclaves and school districts as has happened in so many northern cities and towns.
Agree
So true! We certainly have our share of racist knuckle draggers here in Oklahoma but I have seen worse in California, Minnesota and Massachusetts. Not to mention casual slurs against Okies. Too many people in this country seem to be a bunch of John Bolton types who enjoy kissing up and kicking down. Oh the humanity!
Don't leave Oregon out of that racist mix. We are awful.
Mike, yeah racism is everywhere, but it is a matter of degree. Find me a Massachusetts Governor, Senator or Congressperson that rivals, or ever rivaled, the racist nut jobs consistently crawling out of the deep South.
Wow, Mike. You are letting the South off the hook for so much I don't even know where to start. And certainly don't have time to today. But I couldn't let your comment go without saying - there is racism everywhere in the US but you are for some reason choosing to ignore a whole history of INSTITUTIONAL, legal racism.
Beyond belief.
Rex, white nationalism/racism is a major contributor to Trump's support, but another large part of it is rage concerning the transfer of wealth, a hatred for the elites, which Trump cannily branded and fueled. In a blind rage, they support their enemies. The mistrust of government grows out of losing their sense of identity and community. They were betrayed in their minds by the Democratic Party, and they are not entirely wrong about that. This divide is a killer.
That is generous of you, Fern, but I think rage against the machine accounts for at most a tiny fraction of losses to their sense of identity. Factors other than racism are down there competing with random noise. Regarding their resentment of wealth, I think it accounts for an even tinier fraction. A significant percentage of these clowns (to put it mildly) favor low taxes on the wealthy because they sincerely believe they are going to win at Powerball sometime soon.
It is great to laugh with you, Rex, while respectfully in disagreement. Racism may be the towering fault, but classism is no small hill as you seem to rate it. Now, the two together!
Racism and poverty of the working poor are partners in crime. Poor whites have a lot to complain about. They are just blaming the wrong people. Whites and Blacks should stand together in rage against the oligarchs who shipped their jobs overseas and made obscene personal profits.
Companies should have a social contract with their workers. Workers should be sitting on the board of directors as stakeholders. Profit sharing with employees should be SOP.
Instead the oligarchs throw gasoline on the fires of racism and the truth about our history. They have effectively divided and conquered.
One of the great failures of the Democratic Party has been to allow this false narrative to continue. Folks like Bill Clinton unwittingly fed it. But now...we have a president who walks a union picket line in solidarity with workers! Good for Joe, but if more Democratic officials took a page from people like Sherrod Brown and our super smart president, we might not be in this ridiculous position.
Democrats gave away their strongest political tool - being the party of the worker. Let's resurrect that notion! Time for some Norma Rae!
Bill & Fern, BRAVO! I think you are both outlining the more serious underlying explanations for the democratic party's loss of appeal for poor white and the newly immigrated. And I am quite certain that taking implications for government and business from those European and Scandinavian countries which have repeatedly scored the highest in popular happiness and contentment by finding a way to harness capitalism by governments which demand a more even balance between corporate profits and employee working conditions, countries which provide a genuine safety net of income, healthcare and childcare.
'Folks like Bill Clinton UNWITTINGLY fed it'. My all caps on 'unwittingly' because I wouldn't excuse Clinton so readily. Bill's policies were sometimes right out in the open.
'Two high-ranking officials at the Department of Health and Human Services resigned yesterday in protest over President Clinton's decision to sign the welfare bill, an unusually public move that underscores the deep divisions within the administration over the legislation.'
'Peter Edelman, acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, and Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for children and families, submitted their letters of resignation yesterday, both citing the welfare measure as the reason.'
'The resignations were notable not only because they represented open discontent with a president among his own appointees but because of the relative prominence of the two officials involved. Edelman and his wife, Children's Defense Fund head Marian Wright Edelman, have had a close personal friendship with Bill and Hillary Clinton. And Bane has long been one of the country's leading academics on welfare issues, as the author of books and research that have influenced thinking and policymaking on the subject.'
'Both were part of a brain trust on welfare policy overseen by HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala, who was among several Clinton advisers said to have been protesting behind the scenes when the president was debating whether to sign the legislation last month.' (WAPO) Sorry that the link below is not gifted.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/welfare/quit.htm
Agree but Black and White need to come together at all income levels!
The Clintons knew what they were doing. They just didn’t care. Can carpetbaggers be from the South? I think I just answered my own question!
Well said, Bill.
I think you are both right. And throw in the loss of US manufacturing jobs for various reasons: offshoring, automation, etc.
MLMinET, Rex and I were differing about the degree to which racism and class animosity were marshalled by Trump and comprise a major portion of his supporters. The Democratic Party seemed to abandon the working class, while making some effort to combat racism/segregation. That may have also intensified the racism. I think the loss in US manufacturing is part of what the working class holds against the Democrats. Many believed Democrats did not seek ways to provide the jobs and support necessary as we moved from the industrial age to the technological one. The strong impression was that the Democrats were not supportive enough of the unions as Reagan and the Republicans tore them apart. The tectonic shift of work created enormous challenges that we were not and, perhaps, could not be prepared for.
For chump to trash elites while living the most exclusive life in his
Golden tower is such a mind warp.
Hopefully his golden tower is about to go into receivership!
Glory
Did you see the meme where TRUMP TOWER was replaced with LETTITIA JAMES TOWER?
Not only is that hilarious, but it will make TFFG's blood boil.
He trashes elites. élite. Would he have any idea what that actually means? He's gold-escalator elite.
Rex, perfectly observed. Otherwise stated, if I win a billion dollars, paying 50% of it to taxes would horribly suck; how can I live comfortably on only 500 million? And what suck more is that my money would go to help people who didn’t earn it!!”
And Jesus wept
If you examine the data about who votes for Trump you’ll know that they’re not all disadvantaged including lawyers, congress people etc. Even the insurrection crowd included many people who are just fine when it comes to economics.
Comparatively White people have the lowest poverty rate. Those with the highest poverty rates are not the ones causing the divisions, storming the capital and supporting a wanna be dictator.
I understand why people want to ignore or deny racism. It’s a tough issue to deal with after more than 250 years of living this way. Racism is what defines and propels America.
Fern, among many of the poor, acceptance of “government handouts” has long been seen as shameful—a signal that you, as breadwinner, are incapable of taking care of your family. So children go hungry to prop up their parents’ ego :” We may be poor, but at least we’re not on the dole”.
Thanks, Red. There is merit to Brooks' piece. Generally, I find his work half baked, with little understanding for the working class and middle class America in the Midwest, and I could go on...
Brooks can be reasonable and charming. A really likable guy. He was at his best with Mark Shields.
But too often he struggles to make excuses for the party he really doesn't belong in. David needs to "come out". At a minimum, he should carve out a spot of complete independence from the conservatives who would likely send him to the camps - despite his relatively recent conversion to the New Testament.
I have written about that to him, but oddly, he turns a deaf ear to my wise observations and counsel :)
I agree and miss Mark Shields.
I agree with your assessment of Brooks, whom I like. Around the time he wrote his book about Character his writing spoke to me. Today, not so much.
Well said, Rex.
The pecking order is alive and well.
I'm not sure that "most white Americans" support Trump. The numbers don't suggest that- quite the opposite. He lost the popular vote by a good margin in both elections, and won the 2016 election only by gaming the electoral system.
According to Wikipedia’s entry on voter demographics, 58% of white votes went for Trump. That’s “most” in anybody’s book. (Sorry for the late response. Been on the road.)
“Most” white Americans do NOT support Trump. But MOST supporters of Trump are white.
If you check the exit polls, you will find that, in fact, modt white voters voted for Trump, by about a 15-point margin.
From Pew Research:
“ Biden made gains with suburban voters. In 2020, Biden improved upon Clinton’s vote share with suburban voters: 45% supported Clinton in 2016 vs. 54% for Biden in 2020. This shift was also seen among White voters: Trump narrowly won White suburban voters by 4 points in 2020 (51%-47%); he carried this group by 16 points in 2016 (54%-38%). At the same time, Trump grew his vote share among rural voters. In 2016, Trump won 59% of rural voters, a number that rose to 65% in 2020.”
The statistics you cite discuss various demographics but don’t say how a majority of white voters cast their votes. According to Wikipedia’s entry on voter demographics, 58% of white votes went for Trump. That’s a 16-point majority. (Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been out of wifi territory for a week or so but didn’t want to let your comment go unanswered.)
Red Thread: books, TV and movies have been preventing some of the embedding - as you put it - for a long, long time: teaching compassion and understanding, dissolving fear by giving sheltered children friends of different colors and persuasions on the page and screen. That's the whole point of these book bans - to halt and reverse that progress.
Thank you for the Link Red Thread. As the abstract summary details the "SEP" Program has demonstrated benefit when "students study with & meet people from the other community". Authors: Joanne Hughes & Miles Hawkins.
Much like HCR's historical analysis of the attempted expansion of slavery in North America circa 1848-1861 there are deep & long lasting societal wrongs that still must be overcome.
The attached article about “the troubles” of Ireland and the resulting impact on children is a very interesting read. Lots of food for thought regarding educational settings: religious or faith based schools vs. “public” schools. Integrated schools can and do promote friendships between groups via contact with others. In this study it is about Catholic vs. Protestant. Just made me wonder how relationships form with empathy, understanding and tolerance for “others” when we set up our educational choices to favor one way of thinking. Sorry folks, just ruminating here. The comments regarding embedded racism got me there. Good studies in the link.
I appreciate your ruminations Christine. The study make me think about embedded conflicts going back to the 17th Century -- human beings enslaved in Virginia. In northern Ireland, circa 1760's groups of :people violently driven from.the land & forced to flee by ship to the Philadelphia port as refugees. Then push on to your state, the tolerant Pennsylvania.. From PENN migrate south down the Shenandoah Valley to Scranton. My mother's ancestors made that trip.. Many migrated back then but, we still carry the history all the way to 2023.
Red Thread, thank you for this citation. I looked for more recent research by Hewstone and found a 2020 research project that concluded that the influence of in- group friends still remains stronger than any external socialization in forming attitudes to out-groups. This is really interesting to me, having lived and studied in Ireland through the 90's, and realizing that the in- group/out-group division dies hard.....ironically, the mobility of folks in the EU has expanded the diversity of " out-groups" in the Republic beyond the so-called Catholic/Protestant divide( primarily cultural tags not doctrinal splits). But Brexit has probably stalled that greater ethnic mix in the North. The growth in the " Catholic" population in the North may push the unification of the Island. Who knows. It remains complicated. Just my thoughts. You may have other angles, especially as this research may apply to our own U.S. political partisanship.
At any rate, I appreciate your reference here.
That final sentence seems to corroborate the research that says peer/inner group attitudes hold more sway than socialization on the bigger arena. But I totally agree that community building could reduce the " othering". This is a multi- pronged challenge, isn't it. Thanks for the good exchange!
Fern, my belief from day 1 is Racism. That is why we became entangled with Trump. He gave his permission and acts on it every single day.
The way we live is the way we die. RIP DJ Trump.
Talk about sacrifice. President Biden at 80 has chosen to lead his country out of this mess. He went into this knowing what it would mean for him and his family. He is a man with a stutter who gives intelligent speeches in front on crowds and cameras to audiences wailing for a chance to ridicule his slightest gaffe. Most people are more afraid of public speaking than anything else. Let’s never forget the courage OUR, as in we the people’s president, shows every day.
When I first read this, it took me a moment to realize that you were talking about Heather Cox Richardson (HCR). And then I realized that what I inadvertently saw was HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton). My goodness. In my mind, that is an excellent alignment.
They are indistinguishable in my dyslexic world. If I use the initials, I have to say each name as I type it...
ONWARD ! , ( True ! ) CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!! All KUDOs, for Joseph !! It Is NOT OVER ! ,, Till The FAT Lady ! ......SINGS !
Well, he did get 14 seasons of free publicity - produced by a team that decided to paint him as the successful titan of business rather than the "D lister" that he had become. I'll never forget seeing a young, single, working mom talk about how much she loved him on the show, and how happy she will be to vote for him (2016) because he's so good in business.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/07/how-mark-burnett-resurrected-donald-trump-as-an-icon-of-american-success
As a retired public school teacher (special education grades 7-12) I can relate! Unacceptable behavior needs to be called out, otherwise, students will run the place and bullies will dictate! Civics lessons, working for the "common good" (Robert Reich) is needed.
Julie,
At my rural public school in East Texas the administration looked the other way when a student took on a bully and beat them silly. Yes, students still attempted the behavior but, quickly, someone would challenge the bully and beat him him in a fistfight. One of the worst bully's was put in the hospital by a kid who brought a short length of steel rod to school and crushed the back of the kids head.
The problem in America is: A bully, like Trump, pays off the politicians and the cops to protect them from the kid with a short length of steel rod.
In America, if someone beats the bully silly either literally or figuratively, then, the penalty will be on the person solving the bully problem, not the bully.
Trump has been a seriously nasty bully all of his life and NY City and NY FULLY supported him through the cops and the politicians he paid off.
My old East Texas school had it right. Teachers pretended nothing was happening when someone beat a bully silly and put him in the hospital.
OK with me.
But, until very, very, recently, NOBODY could take on Trump because NY City politicians and cops protected him.
Bullies deserve worse. Good for your school taking care of bullies. I wish bullies weren’t allowed to thrive. However when trump ran for President he won Texas and not NY.
I’m interested in your point of view on this: would you say that narcissistic behaviour is becoming more commonplace?
The internet, social media, algorithms, Cambridge Analytics-- all serve to create and maintain levels of self-absorbed adolescent development and control in and of our people. And parents whose children are just an extension of themselves and are not taught boundaries and self-reflection. The high rates of anxiety, depression and attempted and successful suicide amongst teens due to the shallow and endless judging and bullying online is horrendous. Looks and fake happiness devoid of character and empathy online can impact others in disasterous, unattainable ways. Look who was installed as president in 2016. The internet is a giant yin/yang ball. Incredibly wonderful connections and information at our fingertips, whilst throwing so much negativity and information at us and our children. The impact cannot be healthy unless we use it judiciously. The intentional, algorithmic clickbait and addiction to it is a huge, additional issue for family and school strife these days. Mind-control capabilities easily flow into every home. Critical thinking skills are the most important thing you can teach today, particularly on how corporatocracy uses us. Trump, unfortunately, is the best tool of seeing how devoid of a soul a person can be. He is an insecure, empty, bloviating, revengeful and transactional, corporate, dangerous narcissist. Someone above mentioned it is time for republicans to grow up, it is time for America to move out of the adolescent phase and into the maturity of what a democracy can be by taking are really hard look at our white-privileged colonialist bricks and how they were laid. We have the opportunity right before us to re-build these bricks and honor those whose whipped-backs really built this country. NOW is dangerous and exciting...a perfect opportunity for an adolescent country to grow up by reconciling her shadows in order to mature.
Well said. Thank you. I remember when we as a nation strived for progress in society.
Thanks a bunch for your insights! I agree wholeheartedly. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be a teenager in this age, where every mistake you make (like getting really drunk for the first time) could possibly end up on YouTube, TikTok, etc - you could even end up becoming a meme and circulate the whole world...
As to Trump: as T.J. Brearton wrote on Medium, he is a salesman. And what he is selling is the message: "It's perfectly ok to be a total asshole, just like me. Join my club of completely egoistic, narcisstic, misogynistic, racist and environment-hating assholes and be happy - fuck the rest!"
Pensa_VT: Standing ovation to all of your wonderful words, especially this: “Critical thinking skills are the most important thing you can teach today, particularly on how corporatocracy uses us.” Bravo!
As a counselor in all levels of public school. I can say that my biggest challenge was not the students but the parents of the most troublesome students. The students were the identified problems, and I watched many of them become the adults their parents were, sad to say. Of about five that I still have knowledge of, three are middle-aged MAGAts. They are the ones who had anti-social characteristics as teens. It’s not easy.
He went to private schools, I believe. Think they staff for those concerns? Hardly.
Red, back in my day of being a student in class, the teachers, instructors, had a solution for the disruptive student in the classroom. It was called “being sent to the dean’s office, or principal’s office”. Once there, that usually meant being bent over a chair and receiving several stern applications of a rather sizable paddle that had holes drilled in the ‘business’ end of it.
Good point
If (when)Trump loses his ability to do biz in NY, and loses his properties, possibly homes, significant wealth, and esteem, he will lose his mind for sure, whatever is left of it. His identity is so tied to his Midas Touch he won’t understand how this all happened “to such a great guy, a stable genius”. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men….can’t put Humpty Trumpty back together again. Bless AG James for all she has done for this country.
Wonder at what point the Saudi's decide he is no longer useful to them and 'cut him off'?
Don't hold your breath. Like Putin, they know a good asset when they see one.
Ouch! Maybe they will have nvite him to a fancy golf club there, never to be seen again!
Without his wealth, businesses, and “brand,” TFG becomes one of the wounded he so feared being seen with, a “loser.” It’s a fitting beginning to his demise.
Diane. Agree! Trump's a one trick pony and his victim schtick is wearing thin.
"Move along, folks, nothing to see here."
"If (when)Trump loses his ability to do biz in NY, and loses his properties, possibly homes, significant wealth,"
Don't hold your breath for all of that to actually happen Diane. Trump has spent his entire life doing whatever illegal stuff he wanted and getting by with it.
The best predictor of a future state is the immediate past state. So, the most likely thing to occur in Trump's case is nothing.
Let’s hope not!!!!!!
The jig is up. He’s damaged goods that only the poor MAGA crowd waves a flag for. Benefactors are fleeing.
No matter now much financial damage he sustains, there are more than enough obscenely rich fascists out there to bail him out (*cough*Elon Musk*cough). As long as he remains useful, there will be plenty of dark money out there for him.
The question is: what happens when he stops being useful? Can the billionaires find another puppet who is as adept a con artist? I guess we'll find out at some point.
Democrats are at a major decision point:
Do they support McCarthy for fear that any replacement would be worse, and hope that he got religion after his near death experience?
Do they accept that he is a liar and unreliable broker and vote en masse for Hakeem Jeffries with the 90 some members of the chaos caucus voting against McCarthy to remove McCarthy from the Speakership?
Do they simply vote present and hope that the Republicans who showed a tiny bit of spine in passing the continuing resolution elect someone better able to represent their concerns?
Do they vote to support a motion to table Gaetz's motion to vacate and allow McCarthy to swing in the wind like John Boehner did?
Choices, choices, choices, choices. It will be interesting to see how Hakeem Jeffries leads here--because it will show us how a new generation of Democrats will carry the torch. Thank you Nancy Pelosi for passing the torch.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/30/1202713718/kevin-mccarthy-motion-to-vacate-gaetz-house-speaker
I saw David Jolly last night on Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show. He is usually calm, funny and interesting, but he is trying to make the point that McCarthy has shown us - again and again - that he is not to be trusted and the Democrats should let him wallow in his own effluvia, so to speak. David was really vociferous, and absolutely convincing. It's about the country, and the country does not need a spineless, lying Speaker to run its House. If they vote to vacate, does Gaetz think that HE could be Speaker? That would be a joke. My husband only half jokingly suggested that, out of this debacle, Hakeem Jeffries might end up becoming Speaker. Now wouldn't that be a thing to see!
PS Did anyone else get "Elon Musk" as a follower yesterday? Just wondering if a new troll machine is up and running.
I did.
So did I.
Where?
It is
Yup. Report him.
What does one say when reporting that works?
Suspected Troll? Where can one find the Substack Rules for readership?
To report, tap on the 3 dots to the left, then click on "Report" (you may have to switch to "read in browser" to have access to the 3 dot feature). Then write what you believe is happening and/or what is offensive or questionable. So, yes, "suspected troll" has worked for me. As for rules of Substack, I think I have seen them somewhere, but mostly I just report, and let them sort.
Hopefully Pelosi and Jeffries will consult about this.
Georgia
I think they'll vote for a known quantity. McCarthy is indeed a liar and unreliable, but has proven he will do anything to retain the speakership. He needs Dems to save himself and "doing anything" may include taking Biden's impeachment motion and other nonsense off the table in exchange.
McCarthy is awful, but the Repub alternatives are worse. Agree Hakeem Jeffries would be a better choice but I think he's a bridge too far for most of them.
Well, McCarthy just unabashedly ignored an agreement he just made with POTUS a few months ago. So I don’t know how any Democrat would think of keeping him as Speaker - no matter what he promises them.
The Republican Party is falling apart before our eyes. Ripping itself to pieces might be a better description. What the RNC does with tfg's "demand" for the party to support him and him alone; canceling further debates, etc., will be a good indicator of which way the wind is blowing.
In any event, it's a good time for Democrats to follow the advice attributed to Sun Tzu in "The Art of War"; "Never interfere with your enemy while he is commiting suicide."
Thank You, Ralph!
“Come hell or high water” .. great line by Judge Engoron and perfect way to start todays Letter. And a perfect way to end the Letter is the Dems reaction to Matt Foreheads speech. TY HCR for all the important details in between.
There’s a lot of hope in your post tonight. It feels great.
Agree. A well educated populace would hopefully, be immune to people like DT. Education is about learning to think, not just facts. But the lessons of history can be great teachers too. Teaching logic helps people achieve a moral compass as they’re better able to put things in perspective and see cause & effect.
I have a much loved relative who did not have the opportunity to go to college and was unable to get a job for which she was totally qualified. She asked me what is so important about college. I told her that college should help students develop critical thinking skills so that they are not reliant upon emotion, assumptions, and generations of family prejudices. It doesn't always work, given some of the cretins in the US House who lay claim to college degrees, but they are driven by other things, like money, fear, and their 15 minutes of fame.
I would add to your list that completing a bachelor’s degree also shows perseverance and the ability to keep at a goal until it is accomplished.
Yet my aunt, typical of the majority of my extended family, once asserted with great sincerity that the downfall of America started with the creation of public education. A whole cadre of wealthy Americans believe that an educated public is actually a threat -- to them.
Robust universal basic education is a threat to plutocracy.
And, sadly, they are right. An educated public is always dangerous for autocrats.
Organizations designed to empower are an obstacle to those who who aim to subjugate.
Yup. Keep us barefoot, pregnant, and stupid.
Red Thread, YES! One of the stated goals of the Moms of Liberty in Sarasota County, Florida, is the removal of empathy from the schools. Empathy. Sick and sad indoctrination of our youth to create more clones of tfg in the future. It. Must. Stop.
It's nice that Bob Inglis had a "road to Damascus" moment somewhere. But a far more important article to read would be David French's piece in the NYT about the two different strains of Christian Nationalism and how we're concentrating on the wrong one.
"In reality, the Christian nationalist movement that actually matters is rooted in emotion and ostensibly divine revelation, and it’s that emotional and spiritual movement that so stubbornly clings to Donald Trump."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/01/opinion/christian-nationalism-trump-renew-america.html
That quote of Inglis's makes me so angry I can't stand to think about it: “The fight wasn’t against Al Gore; it was against climate change." You think, Bob? That was stupidity and childishness of genocidal proportions.
TC, I agree 100 % about that Christian nationalism article - a must read. But I don't think it does us any good to concentrate on either strain of it. There is no reaching people through that level of delusion.
I could hardly believe the quote about Al Gore. If the man had had an ounce of charisma (and if Bush's brother had not been the Governor of Florida, Home of the Hanging Chads), Gore would have and most certainly should have won that election. I believed so deeply in what he was saying about climate change that I bought a copy of the children's version of his book, "An Uncomfortable Truth," for my grandson, who was only about six years old. My grandson got it! He's a voter now, and he still has a copy of that book. It was so good to hear someone give credit to Al Gore. Our country would have moved so far toward addressing climate problems had he been allowed to lead.
Frankly, he DID win that election, but he conceded to avoid creating division.
It is, however, a good idea to understand the nature of the enemy.
Absolutely!
It really is telling that we are applauding a GOP clown for finally admitting reality 25 years after the fact!
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Charles Mackay,
The wisdom, and madness, of crowds
Better late than never.
Matt Gaetz is 41 years old, yet he talks more like a 14 year old. That overgrown kid has yet to transition from his rebellious teenage years.
Good observation! About 40% of convicted sex offenders fall in the category of immature attachment- emotionally they are the same age as their victims, who are younger than the age of consent. Representative Gaetz is not a convicted sex offender, but he exhibits many traits similar to that group, and he has very publicly behaved in ways
Matt Gaetz's appearance reminds me of a sleaze bag mobster in the film, ''Goodfellas''.... he looks sleazy and extremely corrupt. A good fit for the extremist MAGAs in the Fascist GQP.
Oh, COME now! Beavis. With his hair dyed black.
That's a more exact match to Gaetz than the sleazy mobster. Which one of the MAGAts would Butthead be?? Or look like??? Maggot Traitor Goon?
Jim Jordan. 🤷🏻♀️
Matt Gaetz is the living embodiment of a PEZ dispenser.
I don’t find in the press that Matt Gaetz, while proudly preening on TV for his nihilism, is before the House Ethics Committee for his seedy personal behavior.
Of course not. He’s a Republican. Ethics don’t apply.
The man-child, Matt Gaetz, will never be censured while the GOP crazies control the House!
That would be a seriously immature 14 year old.
I am not quite so optimistic as HCR, but it really does feel like there could be a tipping point in the coming year or two (a serious election loss by GOP at many levels in 2024 will seal the deal I would like to imagine... but will this happen?). Retired or out of office Republicans can safely denounce Trump, but we will still need a significant number of currently serving invertebrate GOP governors and legislators to do the same before the tide will really change.
Maybe they're wiring until after the primaries next year? That's just a hope of mine, a wish more than any analysis
Thank you for reporting this fascinating call by Trump to cancel all future debates...
That Trump is concerned about his ebbing popularity showed tonight when his campaign released a statement demanding that the Republican National Committee cancel all future debates and focus on Trump’s evidence-free allegations that the Democrats are going to steal the 2024 election. If it refuses, the statement says, it will just show that national Republicans are “more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election.”
... If this does not happen, Trump will look like a fool and Democrats will be able to feed the “Trump is losing influence” story I’m not yet seeing reported by mainsteam news. It’s a story people need to hear! It just might lead someone from the GOP leadership (McConnell?) to publicly say “Enough is enough”!
Wish I could of heard that laughter!
I know, right?
Heather had it in her links:
⬇️😂
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1708987298166055186
Over the last fifty years, Donald Trump, once the spoiled, pretty-boy flimflam man, has transformed himself, into the vile, fascist ALL-CAPS crybaby named... Adolf Huckster.
That name you gave TUMP, ''Adolf Huckster'' was a real winner. It was excellent.
The time is here - where we hold truth higher than narrative, character above flash, and the institution of democracy over the adulation of a single ruler. It’s time we raise our voices over the rumbles of a scared and angry minority, and show the world America is the united democracy we want.